Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The extension of a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations.
  • noun A political doctrine or system promoting such extension of authority.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Imperial state or authority; the system of imperial government.
  • noun The principle or spirit of empire; promotion of or devotion to imperial interests.
  • noun Specifically
  • noun “In recent British politics, the principle or policy of seeking, or at least not refusing, an extension of the British Empire in directions where trading interests and investments require the protection of the flag; and of so uniting the different parts of the Empire having separate governments, as to secure that for certain purposes, such as warlike defence, internal commerce, copyright, and postal communication, they shall be practically a single state.”
  • noun In United States politics, the extension of the rule of the American government over foreign countries acquired by conquest or purchase, without a corresponding grant to them of the constitution or of a republican form of government; the governing of other peoples on the monarchical principle, as subjects rather than as citizens.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The power or character of an emperor; imperial authority; the spirit of empire.
  • noun The policy, practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new, esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright, internal commerce, etc. The practise of building or extending an empire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The policy of forcefully extending a nation's authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a policy of extending your rule over foreign countries
  • noun any instance of aggressive extension of authority
  • noun a political orientation that advocates imperial interests

Etymologies

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Examples

  • QUOTATION: The struggles waged by the different peoples against U.S. imperialism reinforce each other and merge into a torrential worldwide tide of opposition to U.S. imperialism….

    Lin Biao (1908-71) 1989

  • Thus, the term imperialism draws attention to the way that one country exercises power over another, whether through settlement, sovereignty, or indirect mechanisms of control.

    Colonialism Kohn, Margaret 2006

  • The confusion about the meaning of the term imperialism reflects the way that the concept has changed over time.

    Colonialism Kohn, Margaret 2006

  • The term imperialism often describes cases in which a foreign government administers a territory without significant settlement; typical examples include the scramble for Africa in the late nineteenth century and the American domination of the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

    Colonialism Kohn, Margaret 2006

  • Although the English word imperialism was not commonly used before the nineteenth century,

    Colonialism Kohn, Margaret 2006

  • Kaplan's comfort with the word "imperialism" is also worrisome, but most alarming is his repeated use of the word "us" to describe the Marines.

    When George Meets John 2004

  • Kaplan's comfort with the word "imperialism" is also worrisome, but most alarming is his repeated use of the word "us" to describe the Marines.

    When George Meets John 2004

  • Kaplan's comfort with the word "imperialism" is also worrisome, but most alarming is his repeated use of the word "us" to describe the Marines.

    When George Meets John 2004

  • We can apply the term imperialism to a country like Brazil for a number of reasons: the foreign investments of its transnational companies (Petrobras, Vale Rio Doce, Odebrecht) [7] mean that it has significant economic weight and can influence the political decisions of foreign governments (this is the case in Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador, despite the fact that these countries 'respec

    Recent articles from SocialistWorker.org Marga Tojo Gonzales 2010

  • We can apply the term imperialism to a country like Brazil for a number of reasons: the foreign investments of its trans-national companies (Petrobras, Vale Rio Doce,

    CounterPunch 2010

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