fiefdom
Americannoun
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the estate or domain of a feudal lord.
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Informal. anything, as an organization or real estate, owned or controlled by one dominant person or group.
noun
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(in feudal Europe) the property owned by a lord
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an area over which a person or organization exerts authority or influence
Etymology
Origin of fiefdom
Vocabulary lists containing fiefdom
Medieval Europe - Middle School
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Medieval Europe - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Morales has been hiding out from police in his central coca-growing fiefdom of Chapare since late 2024.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
J. Edgar Hoover, who led the FBI for 48 years, had established a personal fiefdom devoted to consolidating power and pursuing his own personal obsessions, sometimes with blackmail and coercion.
From Salon • Feb. 15, 2026
Le Pen retreated to a party fiefdom in southern France, Beaucaire, and held a small march there.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2023
That popularity is changing the reception Ice and her bicycling volunteers are getting in Bang Bon, traditionally the fiefdom of a powerful family from a rival party.
From BBC • May 7, 2023
Each a tottering fiefdom with an epic of its own.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
