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Glite Dictionary
Western Empire

Western Empire

8.1
The western part of the Roman Empire after its split in 395 that ended in 476
  • noun
translation icon : Imperio Occidental
  • The Western Empire was officially established after the split of the Roman Empire in 395 CE.

Be clear that we're talking about the fall of the Western Empire.

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Examples

  • It reconquered parts of the old Western Empire and lived on (although later through much conflict) until the rise of the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century.

    Academic text (2012)

  • This was a cataclysmic event and it ushered in successive crises in the Western Empire, the Western Empire, that would lead to its collapse.

    YaleCourses

  • If we ask why the Western Empire collapsed, the simple, most immediate answer is it was taken over by German Confederations.

  • The foederati conquered Rome repeatedly and ultimately ended the Western Empire.

    Blog text (2)

  • The place of engineering in history can be judged by the traditional date for the beginning of the Dark Ages—March 537—when the king of the Ostrogoths cut the last aqueduct supplying water to Rome and proved conclusively that the Western Empire was finished.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Many historians believe that the fall of the Western Empire marked the beginning of the Middle Ages.

  • In 476 CE, the last emperor of the Western Empire was overthrown, signaling its end.

Synonyms

Western Roman Empire
vsWestern Empire
7.6

The western part of ancient Rome that lasted from 395 to 476

is the shorter, simpler name for the same historical entity

Surface Forms

Western Empire singular
Western Empires plural

Morphology

western + empire

The phrase 'Western Empire' is compositionally transparent: it literally denotes the part of an empire located in the west, directly derived from 'western' (toward the west) + 'empire' (a state ruling many territories). This simple descriptive structure is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Western Empire comes from the Roman Empire being split into two parts in 395, with the Western half of the Empire based first in Rome and later in Ravenna. Because this western half lost power and 'fell' in 476, people call that area the Western Empire to show it was the western part of ancient Rome.