fiefdom

noun

fief·​dom ˈfēf-dəm 

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

… 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

These men began to run Brazil as their personal fiefdom.

—Sue Branford

… corruption and nepotism are as rife as ever, with regional party leaders running their local fiefdoms like mafia godfathers.

—Michael A. Hall

Synonyms

• area
• arena
• bailiwick
• barony
• business
• circle
• demesne
• department
• discipline
• domain
• element
• fief
• field
• firmament
• front
• game
• kingdom
• line
• precinct
• province
• realm
• specialty
• sphere
• terrain
• walk

Examples of fiefdom in a Sentence

you'll have to ask that guy—the project is his fiefdom

Recent Examples on the Web

As Israel’s current war in Gaza has unfolded, Abbas has remained impotent and irrelevant, and even his fiefdom in the West Bank has begun to crumble. —Khaled Elgindy, Foreign Affairs, 30 Aug. 2024

Maduro secures allies in the military by distributing control over such lawless fiefdoms. —Francisco Rodríguez, Foreign Affairs, 9 Oct. 2020

To be successful, co-leaders need an ongoing process to keep from settling into separate fiefdoms that destroy value in the business. —Anand Joshi, Harvard Business Review, 24 July 2024

Public opinion is divided into increasingly belligerent fiefdoms, with marginal ability, let alone will, to weigh adversaries’ interests alongside their own. —Lincoln Caplan, The New Yorker, 4 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above