{
    "term": "empire",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a group of countries or states that are controlled by one leader or government",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "These invasions almost led to the collapse of the Roman Empire."
                },
                {
                    "text": "By now Britain had lost its empire."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The mighty empire finally crumbled."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a country that is still part of the empire"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the decline of the old colonial empires"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The Ottoman Empire began to decline in the late eighteenth century."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The story describes the growth of the vast empire of Alexander the Great."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["History"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "great", "large"],
                "verb + empire": ["establish", "found", "destroy"],
                "empire + verb": ["grow", "collapse", "crumble"],
                "empire + noun": ["building", "builder"],
                "phrases": [
                    "the break-up of an empire",
                    "the decline of an empire",
                    "the fall of an empire"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a group of commercial organizations controlled by one person or company",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He has built a huge business empire from humble beginnings."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the staff who help run his hotel empire"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Business"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["big", "huge", "large"],
                "verb + empire": ["build", "build up", "create"],
                "empire + verb": ["collapse", "crumble"],
                "phrases": ["the collapse of an empire"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "an area of activity controlled by one person or group",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "All the bureaucrats jealously guarded their own little empires."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈempaɪə(r)/",
                "audio": "em/empire/empire__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈempaɪər/",
                "audio": "em/empire/empire__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: via Old French from Latin imperium, related to imperare ‘to command’, from in- ‘towards’ + parare ‘prepare, contrive’."
}