DOMINANCE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dominance mean? 

• DOMINANCE (noun)
  The noun DOMINANCE has 4 senses:

1. superior development of one side of the body

2. the state that exists when one person or group has power over another

3. the organic phenomenon in which one of a pair of alleles present in a genotype is expressed in the phenotype and the other allele of the pair is not

4. the power or right to give orders or make decisions

  Familiarity information: DOMINANCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DOMINANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Superior development of one side of the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

dominance; laterality

Hypernyms ("dominance" is a kind of...):

bodily property (an attribute of the body)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state that exists when one person or group has power over another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

ascendance; ascendancy; ascendence; ascendency; control; dominance

Context example:

her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her

Hypernyms ("dominance" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dominance"):

ascendant; ascendent (position or state of being dominant or in control)

domination; mastery; supremacy (power to dominate or defeat)

predominance; predomination; prepotency (the state of being predominant over others)

dominion; rule (dominance or power through legal authority)

regulation (the state of being controlled or governed)

absolutism; despotism; tyranny (dominance through threat of punishment and violence)

monopoly (exclusive control or possession of something)

Derivation:

dominant (exercising influence or control)

dominate (be in control)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The organic phenomenon in which one of a pair of alleles present in a genotype is expressed in the phenotype and the other allele of the pair is not

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("dominance" is a kind of...):

organic phenomenon ((biology) a natural phenomenon involving living plants and animals)

Domain category:

genetic science; genetics (the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms)

Derivation:

dominant ((of genes) producing the same phenotype whether its allele is identical or dissimilar)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The power or right to give orders or make decisions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

authorisation; authority; authorization; dominance; potency; say-so

Context example:

a place of potency in the state

Hypernyms ("dominance" is a kind of...):

control (power to direct or determine)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dominance"):

power of appointment (authority given (in a will or deed) by a donor to a donee to appoint the beneficiaries of the donor's property)

carte blanche (complete freedom or authority to act)

command (the power or authority to command)

imperium (supreme authority; absolute dominion)

lordship (the authority of a lord)

muscle (authority or power or force (especially when used in a coercive way))

sovereignty (the authority of a state to govern another state)

Derivation:

dominate (have dominance or the power to defeat over)

 Context examples 

He was no gentle lamb, and the part of second fiddle would never do for the high-pitched dominance of his nature.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Terminology associated with the coronary artery dominance codelist of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Standard Data Tabulation Model (SDTM).

(CDISC SDTM Coronary Artery Dominance Terminology, NCI Thesaurus)

As he went on, however, he grew more angry and more forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst men:—Yes, it is necessary—necessary—necessary! For your sake in the first, and then for the sake of humanity.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The tomb in the day-time, and when wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough; but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to browns; when the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance; when time-discoloured stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been imagined.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)