Definition of "imperium" []

• Absolute rule; supreme power. (noun)
• A sphere of power or dominion; an empire. (noun)
• Law The right or power of a state to enforce the law. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Whenever I picture the word imperium it is always Pompey who comes into my mind—Pompey that night, hovering over his map of the Mediterranean, distributing dominion over land and sea as casually as he dispensed his wine “Marcellinus, you can have the Libyan sea, while you, Torquatus, shall have eastern Spain…”, and Pompey the following morning, when he went down into the Forum to claim his prize."
• "Imperialism, on the other hand, comes from the Latin term imperium, meaning to command."
• "If this era of reluctant imperium is to leave a lasting global mark, we must know what we are up to; we must have a sense that supremacy is bent toward a purpose and is not simply an end in itself."