fiefdom

English

Etymology

From fief + -dom.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiːf.dəm/
• Rhymes: -iːfdəm
• Hyphenation: fief‧dom

Noun

fiefdom (countable and uncountable, plural fiefdoms)

1. (historical) The estate controlled by a feudal lord.

   Synonym: fief

   The duke's fiefdom had been greatly expanded as a reward for his dutiful military service on behalf of the king.

   • 1989, Robert Shea, The Saracen‎^[1], The Holy War:

     "If you wish to offer any of my vassals fiefdoms or positions in your new kingdom, they have my leave to accept. I promised them that when they came with me."

2. (by extension, chiefly derogatory) Any organization in the control of a dominant individual.
   • 2008, David Maraniss, First In His Class: A Biography Of Bill Clinton‎^[2], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     “[Bill Clinton] was just walking around, looking in all the offices, like he was surveying his fiefdom. He had a big grin on his face.”

   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian‎^[3]:

     Hollande told cheering supporters in his rural fiefdom of Corrèze in south-west France that he was best-placed to lead France towards change, saying the vote marked a "rejection" of Sarkozy and a "sanction" against his five years in office.

   • 2022 November 22, Dominic Rushe, “FTX was run as ‘personal fiefdom’ of Sam Bankman-Fried, court hears”, in The Guardian‎^[4]:

     Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX was run as the “personal fiefdom” of founder Sam Bankman-Fried, with one of the company’s units spending $300m on real estate in the Bahamas for the use of its executives, a court heard on Tuesday.

Translations

estate controlled by a feudal lord

• Catalan: feu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 采邑 (zh) (càiyì), 封地 (zh) (fēngdì)

• Dutch: heerlijkheid (nl) f, leen (nl) n, leengoed (nl) n
• Finnish: läänitys (fi)
• French: seigneurie (fr) f
• Galician: couto (gl) m, feudo (gl) m
• German: Lehen (de) n, Lehnsgut n, Herrschaft (de) f
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: feudo (it) m
• Japanese: 領国 (ryōgoku), 藩 (ja) (han), レーエン (rēen)
• Polish: lenno (pl) n, feudum n
• Portuguese: feudo (pt) m
• Russian: феод (ru) m (feod)
• Spanish: feudo (es) m

organization in the control of a dominant individual

• Catalan: feu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地盤 / 地盘 (zh) (dìpán)

• Finnish: valtakunta (fi)
• German: Herrschaftsgebiet (de) n, Reich (de) n, Revier (de) n
• Polish: domena (pl) f
• Spanish: feudo (es) m