fealty

[fee-uhl-tee]

noun

plural

fealties 

1. History/Historical.

   1. fidelity to a lord.

   2. the obligation or the engagement to be faithful to a lord, usually sworn to by a vassal.

2. fidelity; faithfulness.

   Synonyms: devotion, loyalty

fealty

/ ˈfiːəltɪ /

noun

1. (in feudal society) the loyalty sworn to one's lord on becoming his vassal See homage

Other Word Forms

• nonfealty noun
• unfealty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fealty¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English feute, feaute, fealtye, from Anglo-French, Old French feauté, fealté, from Latin fidēlitāt- (stem of fidēlitās ) fidelity; internal -au-, -al- from feal, reshaping (by substitution of -al- -al ¹ ) of fe(d)eil, from Latin fidēlis

Word History and Origins

Origin of fealty¹

C14: from Old French fealte , from Latin fidēlitās _fidelity

Example Sentences

It’s also about the credibility of this Court’s conservative majority, and the consistency of its rulings on major questions, fealty to statutory language, and whether a President can claim the taxing power as his own.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The segues between tracks are seamless, in no small part due to Rodríguez’s immaculate production and fealty to the tempo of the times.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He sounds like an apparatchik addressing a party congress on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, repeatedly declaring fealty to “the committee,” using Marxist buzzwords like “praxis,” and casually deploying “Zionist” as a slur.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Former Soviet republics in Central Asia are displaying less fealty to Moscow, choosing to draw alliances instead with China and the European Union.

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The Disney adults who put out the mouse signal showed their collective power — not one of fealty to a corporation, but of belief that free speech was part of the magic in the Magic Kingdom.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• faithfulness 
• loyalty