dome
pronunciation
How to pronounce dome in British English:
UK [dəʊm]
How to pronounce dome in American English:
US [doʊm]
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- Noun:
- a concave shape whose distinguishing characteristic is that the concavity faces downward
- informal terms for a human head
- a stadium that has a roof
- a hemispherical roof
Word Origin
- dome
- dome: [16] Dome originally meant ‘house’ in English – it was borrowed from Latin domus ‘house’ (source of English domestic). However, in other European languages the descendants of domus had come to signify more than a humble dwelling house, and its new meanings spread to English. The word increasingly encompassed stately mansions and important places of worship. Italian duomo and German dom mean ‘cathedral’, for instance (a sense adopted by English in the late 17th and early 18th centuries), and since a leading characteristic of Italian cathedrals is their cupola, the word was soon applied to this.=> domestic
- dome (n.)
- "round, vaulted roof," 1650s, from French dome (16c.), from Provençal doma, from Greek doma "house, housetop" (especially a style of roof from the east), related to domos "house" (see domestic). In the Middle Ages, German dom and Italian duomo were used for "cathedral" (on the notion of "God's house"), so English began to use this word in the sense "cupola," an architectural feature characteristic of Italian cathedrals. Used in U.S. also with reference to round summits of mountains.
Example
- 1. An uncompleted dome towers over the city .
- 2. By some estimates , the duomo remains the largest masonry dome today .
- 3. However , the dome collapsed in 1840 following an earthquake .
- 4. Israel said its new iron dome missile-defence shield performed well against a barrage of 200 palestinian rockets .
- 5. Instead , the dome transfers out in a scallop shape to more domes .