A rounded roof or ceiling shaped like half of a ball. Domes are often used on large buildings such as churches, mosques, and government halls.
From Latin 'domus' meaning 'house', which passed into Italian 'duomo' meaning 'cathedral', and then into English. The sense shifted from the building itself to the distinctive rounded roof. Over time, 'dome' came to mean any large, curved structure.
The word 'dome' is a cousin of 'domestic' and 'domain', all tracing back to 'house' and 'home'. Architecturally, domes are not just pretty—they’re extremely strong, because the curved shape spreads weight evenly. That’s why nature uses dome-like forms too, from eggs to skulls.
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