em‧pire W3 / empaɪə $ -paɪr / 名词 [可数名词]

1 a group of countries that are all controlled by one ruler or government :

the Roman empire

2 a group of organizations controlled by one person :

a business empire

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

a large/vast/huge empire The emperor Claudius ruled a vast empire stretching from Persia to Britain.

a great empire (= large and powerful ) The city was the centre of a great empire.

the Roman/British/Soviet etc empire The Barbarians finally overthrew the Roman empire.

a colonial empire (= a group of countries ruled by another country that is far away ) France had a huge colonial empire.

动词

found an empire (= start an empire ) The Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great.

an empire grows As the empire grew, its new territories needed to be protected.

an empire falls/collapses (= loses power suddenly ) In A.D.476, the western part of the Empire collapsed.

an empire crumbles (= loses power gradually ) The vast empire was beginning to crumble.

短语

the decline of an empire (= the gradual decrease in an empire’s power ) The next two hundred years saw the gradual decline of the Roman empire.

the fall/collapse of an empire (= the sudden end of an empire ) After the battle of Waterloo, the collapse of Napoleon’s empire was inevitable.

COLLOCATIONS

形容词

a business/financial/media etc empire His business empire is now worth over $20 billion.

a large/vast/huge empire He created a vast financial empire worth billions of dollars.

动词

build (up) an empire She built her clothing empire from one small shop to an international chain.

run an empire (= be in charge of it ) She now runs a whole media empire.

an empire collapses (= fails and ends suddenly ) When the business empire collapsed, thousands of employees lost their jobs.

短语

the collapse of an empire He left the country after the collapse of his construction empire.