plural fiefdoms
: an area over which someone exercises control as or in the manner of a feudal lord
The Seigneur could not sell his fiefdom without approval from the Queen.—
Timothy Foote
Timothy Foote… he encouraged the notion that the company was an extension of himself, and certainly it had been argued over the years that in his spending habits he treated it as his personal fiefdom.—Connie Bruck
Connie BruckThese men began to run Brazil as their personal fiefdom.—Sue Branford
Sue Branford… corruption and nepotism are as rife as ever, with regional party leaders running their local fiefdoms like mafia godfathers.—Michael A. Hall
Michael A. HallSynonyms
Examples of fiefdom in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The mere fact that universities allow some other powerful fiefdoms to exist doesn’t make computing’s centralization less concerning.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 19 Mar. 2024
The proliferation of police, gang and civilian checkpoints meanwhile is fracturing Haiti’s capital into wary and anxious fiefdoms.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
No less absurd is the notion of its having been the fiefdom of a lad.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
Both parties are run as fiefdoms of dynastic families and have long been fixtures in Pakistani politics.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2024
Ruthless gangs have a stranglehold on the city, preying on the population, carving neighborhoods into warring criminal fiefdoms, and cutting Haiti’s international port off from the rest of the country.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024
Every effort by central banks to stimulate the economy goes largely to the cloud fiefdoms described in his book, as economic activity is sucked out of marketplaces into the trading platforms of the cloud.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Europe, 11 Feb. 2024
As his mother’s cocaine fiefdom racked in around $2.6 million a day at its height, Blanco soaked up the luxury lifestyle.
—Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2024
Those fiefdoms exclude most of Imperial’s 180,000 residents.
—Janet Wilson, ProPublica, 9 Nov. 2023
Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 19 Mar. 2024
The proliferation of police, gang and civilian checkpoints meanwhile is fracturing Haiti’s capital into wary and anxious fiefdoms.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
No less absurd is the notion of its having been the fiefdom of a lad.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
Both parties are run as fiefdoms of dynastic families and have long been fixtures in Pakistani politics.
—Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2024
Ruthless gangs have a stranglehold on the city, preying on the population, carving neighborhoods into warring criminal fiefdoms, and cutting Haiti’s international port off from the rest of the country.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024
Every effort by central banks to stimulate the economy goes largely to the cloud fiefdoms described in his book, as economic activity is sucked out of marketplaces into the trading platforms of the cloud.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune Europe, 11 Feb. 2024
As his mother’s cocaine fiefdom racked in around $2.6 million a day at its height, Blanco soaked up the luxury lifestyle.
—Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2024
Those fiefdoms exclude most of Imperial’s 180,000 residents.
—Janet Wilson, ProPublica, 9 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fiefdom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Fiefdom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiefdom. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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