tutelage

English

Etymology

From Latin tutela (“a watching, guardianship, protection”), from tueri (“to watch, guard”). See tuition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtjuːtɪlɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈt͡ʃuːtɪlɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈtuːtɪlɪd͡ʒ/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈtjuːtələd͡ʒ/, /ˈt͡ʃuːtələd͡ʒ/, /ˈtuːtələd͡ʒ/
• (with syncope) IPA^(key): /ˈtjuːtlɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈt͡ʃuːtlɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈtuːtlɪd͡ʒ/, /-əd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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Noun

tutelage (countable and uncountable, plural tutelages)

1. The act of guarding, protecting, or guiding; guardianship; protection

   the king's right of seigniory and tutelage

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay, “Chapter”, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, page 23:

     The childhood of the European nations was passed under the tutelage of the clergy.

2. The state of being under a guardian or a tutor; care or protection enjoyed.
3. Instruction; teaching; guidance.
   • 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, Missolonghi, page 187:

     Taught from their cradle-bed to know
     The bitter tutelage of wo,
     No idle fears in their bosoms glow,
     But pride and wrath in their dark eyes glance,
     As they lift their martyr'd fathers' lance.

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 174:

     Kirk has attempted to write the definitive explanation of myth, but he too has overlooked von Dechend and, therefore, cannot make much sense concerning "Inanna's Descent into the Nether World." But when from von Dechend's tutelage we realize that Inanna is identified with the planet Venus, then we understand that there is more going on in the myth than a dramatization of the empty storehouse in winter.

   • 2023 October 18, Nick Brodrick, “The grand gateway to Glasgow: 144 years of Glasgow Central”, in RAIL, number 994, page 34:

     The High Level station was quickly overwhelmed by the volume of traffic, and a full rebuild under the tutelage of architect James Miller was initiated just two years after opening.

Synonyms

• guardianship
• protection
• (instruction, guidance): tutorship

Related terms

• tutelar
• tutelary
• tuition
• tutor
• tutorial

Translations

The act of guarding or protecting; guardianship; protection

• Bulgarian: настойничество (bg) n (nastojničestvo)
• French: tutelle (fr) f
• German: Bevormundung (de) f, Betreuung (de) f
• Greek: κηδεμονία (el) f (kidemonía)
• Latin: tūtēla f
• Russian: опеку́нство (ru) n (opekúnstvo)
• Spanish: tutela (es) f

The state of being under a guardian or a tutor

• German: Vormundschaft (de) f, Obhut (de) f, Betreuung (de) f

Instruction; teaching; guidance

• German: Anleitung (de) f

Further reading

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “tutelage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

• “tutelage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tutelage”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.