conquest

Etymology

It continues two Old French nouns: borrowed from Old French conqueste (“conquest, acquisition”) and conquest (“acquisition”),^[2][3][4][5] in Anglo-Norman since the mid 12th century.^[6] They are the feminine and masculine past participles of conquerre (“to conquer”),^[4][7] from the participle Vulgar Latin *conquaesītus, altered from conquīsītus, the past participle of conquīrō (“to search for, bring together”),^[5][8][9] the Latin source of conquer.^[2][5] Etymonline also cites conquista in Medieval Latin.^[3] It is related to quest and conquistador.^[9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of overcoming or defeating an enemy; victory: c1315, in the poems of William of Shoreham.^[2] Etymonline dates the sense "defeat of an adversary" to the early 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense "acquisition by force of arms, subjugation of a country" followed about 1325,^[2][3] and the Anglo-Norman word already covered both military conquest and gain or acquisition in general.^[6] By 1389 the Conquest was used for William of Normandy's seizure of the English crown in 1066,^[2][3] a sense Anglo-Norman also had.^[6] From 1393, in Gower, it meant a possession won in war, a conquered territory.^[2] Shakespeare used it figuratively for winning someone's favour or affection, and Donne for a person so won.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of conquering and as "Acquisition by victory; thing gained".^[10] In Scots law conquest meant real property acquired other than by inheritance, as opposed to heritage, until the distinction was abolished in 1874,^[2] and in Ayrshire it also meant acquired wealth or gains.^[11] Canadian English uses the Conquest for the British conquest of French North America, which ended in 1763.^[12]

Timeline

• c1315 – the act of overcoming an enemy; victory.^[2]
• c1325 – acquisition by force of arms; subjugation.^[2][3]
• 1389 – the Conquest, the Norman Conquest of England.^[2]
• 1393 – a possession won in war; conquered territory.^[2]
• a1616 – the winning of someone's favour or affection (Shakespeare).^[2]
• a1631 – a person whose affection has been won (Donne).^[2]
• 1677 – the state of being conquered.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act of conquering a country or people by force; subjugation: the Spanish conquest of Peru.
2. A territory or thing that has been conquered.
3. The overcoming of a difficulty or a challenge: the conquest of the summit.
4. The winning of someone's love or affection, or a person whose love has been won: She was his latest conquest.
5. the Conquest: the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
6. (Canada) the Conquest: the British conquest of French North America, completed in 1763.

Word family

• postconquest
• preconquest
• Norman Conquest

Related words

• conquer
• conqueror
• quest
• acquire
• conquistador
• question

Usage notes

Dictionary.com discusses conquest in its synonym study at victory.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins