fealty

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English feaute, feute, from Anglo-Norman fëauté, fëuté, from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness”; “homage, fealty” in Medieval Latin), from fidēlis (faithful) +‎ -tās (noun suffix); the modern form (for expected *feauty /ˈfjuːti/) is due to learned influence. Equivalent to obsolete feal +‎ -ty. Doublet of fidelity.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fealty (countable and uncountable, plural fealties)

  1. Fidelity to one's lord or master; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord.
    Synonyms: fidelity, allegiance, faithfulness
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Romance and Reality. [], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, [], →OCLC, page 111:
      I doubt whether the most devoted fidelity would bear strict examination as to the short reposes even the most entire fealty permits itself.
    • 2020 November 18, Richard Fausset, Jonathan Martin, “In Georgia, a Republican Feud With Trump at the Center”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      And yet the war has come, full of double-crossing, internecine accusations of lying and incompetence, and a bitter cleavage into factions over the question of how much fealty should be shown to President Trump — and the extent to which Republicans should amplify his false argument that the election in this fast-changing Southern state was stolen from him.
    • 2023 May 16, Paul Sonne, Anton Troianovski, “As Ukrainian Attack Looms, Putin Faces Setbacks and Disunity in Russian Forces”, in The New York Times[2], →ISSN:
      In one recent video, he said the problem posed by a Russian military led by people who demand nothing but blind fealty would need to be dealt with — “or one day the Russian people will solve it themselves.”
  2. The oath by which this obligation was assumed.
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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams

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