bailiwick

noun bai·li·wick \ ˈbā-li-ˌwik , -lē- \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of bailiwick

1 law enforcement : the office or jurisdiction of a bailiff (see bailiff 1a)

2 : the sphere in which one has superior knowledge or authority : a special domain (see domain 4)

… concerns at the spy agency that the Pentagon is intruding into its traditional bailiwick.
—Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti

bailiwick was our Word of the Day on 10/05/2015. Hear the podcast!

Examples of bailiwick in a Sentence

questions about organization of the fund drive are my bailiwick

Recent Examples of bailiwick from the Web

The Tide's previous defensive coordinators had expertise coaching the secondary, which just so happens to be Saban's bailiwick, too.

— rainer sabin, AL.com, "How Tosh Lupoi is faring as Alabama's defensive coordinator," 5 Apr. 2018
These are usually the bailiwick of young players who’ve flown under the radar, not 13-year veterans.

— michael beller, SI.com, "Tim Beckham, Jake Faria Among the 2018 American League Fantasy Sleepers," 6 Mar. 2018
Brodeur is chairman of the House's budget committee on health care, so any of these bills would likely have to go through his bailiwick.

— dan sweeney, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Power Lunch: Taking the pulse of nursing home legislation," 19 Dec. 2017
Although Rabbi Shteinman was also esteemed as a great sage, his unofficial bailiwick was promoting lifelong Torah study by adult men, upholding standards of the yeshivas and finessing political dealings with the Israeli government.

— joseph berger, New York Times, "Aharon Leib Shteinman, Ultra-Orthodox Leader in Israel, Dies at 104," 13 Dec. 2017
In light of what Nintendo seems to be illustrating, that there is appetite for a consumer device that preserves the higher-end console experience on the go, would Sony ever revisit a once formidable bailiwick?

— matt peckham, Time, "Everything Sony Told Us About the Future of PlayStation," 5 June 2017
The Senate bill reauthorizing the FAA keeps air traffic control operations within the agency’s bailiwick.

— Washington Post, "Panel makes progress on bill privatizing air traffic control," 27 June 2017
Whether that’s within their bailiwick is a point of disagreement.

— debbie kelley, The Denver Post, "Colorado Springs schools deal with fears over immigration," 19 Mar. 2017
In addition to the financial penalty, Mr. Corzine would accept a lifetime ban from personally trading other people’s money in the futures industry, which was MF Global’s bailiwick.

— ben protess, New York Times, "House Report Says Corzine's Risky Bets Aided MF Global's Fall NOV. 14, 2012," 6 Oct. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bailiwick.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The first half of the word bailiwick comes from the Middle English word for "bailiff," in this case a term referring to a sheriff or chief officer of a town in medieval England, not the officer who assists today in U.S. courtrooms. Bailiff derives via Anglo-French from the Latin bajulare, meaning "to carry a burden." The second half of "bailiwick" comes from "wik," a Middle English word for "dwelling place" or "village," which ultimately derived from the Latin vicus, meaning "village." (This root also gave us "-wich" and "-wick," suffixes used in place names like Norwich and Warwick.) Although "bailiwick" dates from the 15th century, the "special domain" sense did not begin to appear in English until the middle of the 19th century.