imperialism

Etymology

It is formed from English imperial + -ism,^[2][3][4][5] after imperialist.^[2] Imperial is from Old French imperial, from Latin imperiālis (“of the empire or emperor”), from imperium (“command, empire”), the source of empire.^[3][6] The Communist sense follows Lenin's Russian use, especially in his monograph of 1917 on imperialism as the latest stage of capitalism; compare German Imperialismus, which Marx used in 1871 for the government of the French Empire of Napoleon.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An imperial system of government, the rule of an emperor: 1684, in T. Beverley.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the word to 1826, as "advocacy of empire, devotion to imperial interests",^[3] the Shorter Oxford to the mid-19th century^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1855–60.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline traces the 19th-century use to a Napoleonic context, also applied to Rome and to British foreign policy.^[3] In British politics of the late 19th century it meant the principle of empire and the union of the parts of the British Empire, sometimes in a neutral or positive sense.^[2][4][3] The general sense of one country's rule over another is recorded by 1878, in a letter of J. Chamberlain,^[3][2] and the extension of a country's power through trade, diplomacy or culture from 1883.^[2] The word grew more pejorative after 1900, with American revulsion at the Philippine insurrection and J. A. Hobson's book on imperialism, and Communist writers took it up in the 1910s;^[3] the OED records the Communist use against the Western powers from 1918.^[2] The rule of an emperor is now chiefly a historical sense.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1684 – an imperial system of government, rule by an emperor.^[2][7]
• 1826 – advocacy of empire, in a Napoleonic context.^[3]
• 1878 – the principle or policy of empire; rule of one country over others.^[2][3]
• 1883 – extension of a country's power through trade, diplomacy or culture.^[2]
• 1918 – in Communist writing, the policy of the Western powers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The policy or practice of extending a nation's power and rule over other peoples, by taking territory or by controlling their political or economic life: a history of European imperialism in Africa.^[7][9][8]
2. The extension of a country's influence through trade, diplomacy or culture, often with a qualifier, as in cultural imperialism.^[2][9]
3. The aggressive extension of authority or influence by any person or organization.^[9]
4. (chiefly historical) Rule by an emperor; an imperial system of government, especially a despotic one.^[2][8]

Word family

• imperialist
• imperialistic
• imperialistically

Related words

• imperial
• empire
• emperor
• imperium
• imperative
• colonialism

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 g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins