empire

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority.
2. n. The territory included in such a unit.
3. n. An extensive enterprise under a unified authority: a publishing empire.
4. n. Imperial or imperialistic sovereignty, domination, or control: "There is a growing sense that the course of empire is shifting toward the . . . Asians” ( James Traub).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Supreme power in governing; imperial power; dominion; sovereignty.
2. n. The country, region, or union of states or territories under the jurisdiction and dominion of an emperor or other powerful sovereign or government; usually, a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, which may be, and often is, of small extent: as, the Roman or the Russian empire. The desiguation empire has been assumed in modern times by some small or homogeneous monarchies, generally ephemeral; but properly an empire is an aggregate of conquered, colonized, or confederated states, each with its own government subordinate or tributary to that of the empire as a whole. Such were and are all the great historical empires; and in this sense the name is applied appropriately to any large aggregation of separate territories under one monarch, whatever his title may be: as, the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian empires; the empire of Alexander the Great; the British empire, etc. See emperor, and Holy Roman Empire, below.
3. n. Supreme control; governing influence; rule; sway: as, the empire of reason or of truth.
4. n. Synonyms Sway, dominion, rule, reign, government, supremacy.

Wiktionary

1. n. A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority.
2. n. A group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to a foreign power.
3. n. A state ruled by an emperor.
4. n. An expansive and wealthy corporation.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Supreme power; sovereignty; sway; dominion.
2. n. The dominion of an emperor; the territory or countries under the jurisdiction and dominion of an emperor (rarely of a king), usually of greater extent than a kingdom, always comprising a variety in the nationality of, or the forms of administration in, constituent and subordinate portions.
3. n. Any dominion; supreme control; governing influence; rule; sway.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over which imperial dominion is exercised
2. n. a group of countries under a single authority
3. n. a group of diverse companies under common ownership and run as a single organization
4. n. an eating apple that somewhat resembles a McIntosh; used as both an eating and a cooking apple
5. n. a monarchy with an emperor as head of state