conquer
Americanverb (used with object)
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to acquire by force of arms; win in war.
to conquer a foreign land.
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to overcome by force; subdue.
to conquer an enemy.
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to gain, win, or obtain by effort, personal appeal, etc..
conquer the hearts of his audience.
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to gain a victory over; surmount; master; overcome.
to conquer disease and poverty; to conquer one's fear.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to overcome (an enemy, army, etc); defeat
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to overcome (an obstacle, feeling, desire, etc); surmount
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(tr) to gain possession or control of by or as if by force or war; win
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(tr) to gain the love, sympathy, etc, of (someone) by seduction or force of personality
Related Words
See defeat.
Other Word Forms
- conquerable adjective
- conquerableness noun
- conquering adjective
- conqueringly adverb
- conqueror noun
- half-conquered adjective
- preconquer verb (used with object)
- reconquer verb (used with object)
- unconquerable adjective
- unconquered adjective
Etymology
Origin of conquer
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English conqueren, from Anglo-French conquerir, Old French conquerre, from Vulgar Latin conquērere (unrecorded) “to acquire,” from Latin conquīrere “to seek out”; con-, query
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"We need more of that too, because we need to connect again much more with people. We will need to conquer the hearts and minds again."
From Barron's
He would “conquer or die in the attempt!”
From Literature
With viewers set to find out if the pair's simmering forbidden love can conquer all, Australian actress Yerin Ha, who plays Sophie, tells Newsbeat that representing her community is all she's "ever wanted".
From BBC
This method was a frontal assault on the “divide and conquer” mentality, which used to mean specialization followed by integration.
But as it turned out, days after the Games came to a close, Norway wasn’t done conquering Milan.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
