conquer

American  

[kong-ker] / ˈkɒŋ kər /

verb (used with object)

1. to acquire by force of arms; win in war.

   to conquer a foreign land.

2. to overcome by force; subdue.

   to conquer an enemy.

   Synonyms:

   subjugate, overthrow, overpower, vanquish

3. to gain, win, or obtain by effort, personal appeal, etc..

   conquer the hearts of his audience.

4. to gain a victory over; surmount; master; overcome.

   to conquer disease and poverty; to conquer one's fear.

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verb (used without object)

1. to be victorious; make conquests; gain the victory.

   Despite their differences, their love will conquer.

conquer British  

/ ˈkɒŋkə /

verb

1. to overcome (an enemy, army, etc); defeat

2. to overcome (an obstacle, feeling, desire, etc); surmount

3. (tr) to gain possession or control of by or as if by force or war; win

4. (tr) to gain the love, sympathy, etc, of (someone) by seduction or force of personality

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conquer Idioms  

1. see divide and conquer.

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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

"Iran doesn't have an independence day because they have not been conquered since the days of Alexander the Great."

From BBC

But even though these systems have mastered chess, conquered Go and unfolded nearly all of the known proteins in the universe, they were initially flummoxed by the mere concept of a bracket.

From The Wall Street Journal

It has conquered Silicon Valley, jolted Wall Street and even managed to scramble Anthropic’s fiercest rival.

From The Wall Street Journal

In that time Torak had fought hunger and conquered fever, found Wolf, and made his first big kill.

From Literature

Ben Wang delivers a breakthrough performance in the title role as a kid who tries to conquer his anxiety issues head-on by running for class president.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• crush
• overthrow
• quell
• rout
• subdue
• subjugate
• surmount
• vanquish