Mastery Meaning
/ˈmɑːs.t(ə.)ɹi/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe position or authority of a master; dominion; command; supremacy; superiority.
nounSuperiority in war or competition; victory; triumph; preeminence.
Sentence Examples
The two candidates are struggling for mastery.
I had complete mastery over my feeling.
He had complete mastery over the necessary mathematics formula.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Years of practice gave her complete ____ of the piano.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ of several foreign languages helped him excel in his career as an international diplomat.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English maistery, maistrie, mastere, mastry, from Old French maistrie, equivalent to master + -y.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If divided by mountains, they will fight for the mastery of the passages of the tops."
— c. 1610, Sir Walter Raleigh, The Misery of Invasive War:
"The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them."
— 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
"They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d / With th’Heliconian maides for mayſtery; / Of whom they ouer-comen, were depriu’d / Of their proud beautie, and th’one moyity / Transform’d to fiſh, for their bold ſurquedry, / But th’vpper halfe their hew retayned ſtill, / And their ſweet skill in wonted melody; / Which euer after they abuſd to ill, / T’allure weake traueillers, whom gotten they did kill."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, pages 370–371:
"The voice of them that shout for mastery."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 32:xxxii–18:
"Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 9:–25:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Years of practice gave her complete ____ of the piano.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ of several foreign languages helped him excel in his career as an international diplomat.