• Empire is a large, multi-ethnic state, whose political structure is held together by coercion.

The following usages are derived from the main one.

• An empire can also refer to the large economic holdings of one person, usually including the ownership of many different businesses and corporations. For example, Bill Gates could be said to have a "Software Empire."
• Empire is the name of several different computer games.
• Empire is an early 19th century style of architecture and furniture design.
• "Empire" is an influential Marxist text on geopolitics by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.
• Empire in scientific classification in biology is a kind of taxon that may be given above the level of kingdom.
• Empire is Great Britain's biggest-selling film magazine.
• The Empire is a country in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, based upon various feudal empires in Europe.
• Empire is a 2002 movie starring John Leguizamo.
• Empire is a 1964 film by Andy Warhol consisting of eight hours of footage of the Empire State Building.
• The Empire is the enemy nation in the Squaresoft video game Final Fantasy VI.