Definitions

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

  • noun The office, function, or authority of a master.
  • noun The skill or dexterity of a master.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or office of a master; a master's position or rank: as, the mastership of a school, or of a vessel.
  • noun Masterly skill or capacity; superiority; mastery.
  • noun A chief work; a masterpiece.
  • noun In address, your mastership, like your lordship, etc. Sometimes contracted to maship.

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

  • noun The state or office of a master.
  • noun Mastery; dominion; superior skill; superiority.
  • noun obsolete Chief work; masterpiece.
  • noun An ironical title of respect.

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

  • noun The state of office of a master.
  • noun Mastery; dominion; superior skill; superiority.
  • noun obsolete Chief work; masterpiece.
  • noun A ironical title of respect.

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

  • noun the skill of a master
  • noun the position of master

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

master +‎ -ship

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mastership.

Examples

  • And in destroying them they attempted to honour God by something displeasing to Him; and to use the language of men, God was angry with all destroyers of the works of great mastership, which is only attained by much toil, labour, and expenditure of time, and is bestowed by God alone.

    Albert Durer T. Sturge Moore 1907

  • Shakespeare's dramas -- not all of them indeed, but those which were written after he reached what may be called his mastership -- are in the highest sense of term Works of Art, and as such embody to the full the principles set forth in the preceding section.

    Shakespeare: His Life, Art, And Characters, Volume I. With An Historical Sketch Of The Origin And Growth Of The Drama In England Henry Norman Hudson 1850

  • Shakespeare's dramas ” not all of them indeed, but those which were written after he reached what may be called his mastership ” are in the highest sense of term Works of Art, and as such embody to the full the principles set forth in the preceding section.

    Shakespeare His Life Art And Characters Hudson, H N 1872

  • On the surface of the cloth stream that poured past him, he pictured radiant futures wherein he performed prodigies of toil, invented miraculous machines, won to the mastership of the mills, and in the end took her in his arms and kissed her soberly on the brow.

    THE APOSTATE: written by Jack London 2010

  • On the surface of the cloth stream that poured past him, he pictured radiant futures wherein he performed prodigies of toil, invented miraculous machines, won to the mastership of the mills, and in the end took her in his arms and kissed her soberly on the brow.

    THE APOSTATE 2010

  • I think his existential themes and effects of philosophical confusion are very interesting, but other authors, such as Gene Wolfe, handle them with greater ease and mastership of style.

    Mind-Shattering Novels of Philip K. Dick 2008

  • I actually even think he had ultimately forgiven his persecutors and the slayers of his family -- and that would be a mastership that one can only view with awe.

    Mike Schwager: Remembering My Father: His Greatest Lesson to Me Was His Life 2010

  • I actually even think he had ultimately forgiven his persecutors and the slayers of his family -- and that would be a mastership that one can only view with awe.

    Mike Schwager: Remembering My Father: His Greatest Lesson to Me Was His Life 2010

  • He holds that women must be kept in subjection, writing: "Woe unto the Race if ever these loveable creatures should break loose from mastership, and become the rulers or equals of Man."

    Essays 2007

  • "Love, Women, and War" Redbeard opines that women "are incapable of self-mastership ... mere babies in worldly concerns."

    Essays 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.