Noun

(en noun)

Power or the use of power; sovereignty over something; stewardship, supremacy.

* Bible, Daniel iv. 34

I praised and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.

* Jowett

To choose between dominion or slavery.

predominance; ascendancy

* Dryden

Objects placed foremost ought have dominion over things confused and transient.

(sometimes, figurative) A kingdom, nation, or other sphere of influence; governed territory.

the dominions of a king

the dominion of the passions

(historical) One of the colonies of the British Empire given self-government through the Statute of Westminster, such as Canada or Newfoundland.

(Biblical tradition) An order of angel in Christian angelology, ranked above angels and below thrones.

* Bible, Colossians 1:16

By him were all things created whether they be thrones, or dominions , or principalities, or powers.

Noun

(label) The power to enforce rules or give orders.

* 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)

But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

(label) Persons in command; specifically, government.

*{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny

, chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities . A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Legal highs: A new prescription , passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}

(label) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.

* 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

To punish me for my contempt of authority', Fate has made me an ' authority myself.