domination

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Control or power over another or others.
2. n. The exercise of such control or power.
3. n. Christianity The fourth of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology. Also called dominions.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The exercise of power in ruling; dominion; sovereignty; lordship; government.
2. n. Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force: as, the domination of strong minds over weak; the domination of reason over the passions.
3. n. plural An order of angels, supposed to be mentioned in two passages of the New Testament (Eph. i. 21, Col. i. 16), where the authorized version uses the word dominions. In the scheme of the celestial hierarchy (see hierarchy) of Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite (first cited in the sixth century), and afterward generally accepted, the dominations constitute the fourth among the nine orders of angels, ranking as the first order of the second or intermediate triad. The form domination rather than dominion is due to the Latin dominatio of the Vulgate, the rendering of the Greek κυριότης, dominion, lordship, power and rank of a lord, the word also used by Dionysius.
4. n. Synonyms Rule, command.
5. n. Influence, Ascendancy, etc. See authority.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of dominating; exercise of power in ruling; dominion; supremacy; authority, often when arbitrary or insolent.
2. n. A ruling party; a party in power.
3. n. A high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of dominating; exercise of power in ruling; dominion; supremacy; authority; often, arbitrary or insolent sway.
2. n. rare A ruling party; a party in power.
3. n. A high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy; -- a meaning given by the schoolmen.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. social control by dominating
2. n. power to dominate or defeat