fiefdom
8
9.6
- noun
- /ˈfiːf.dəm/
- After the shake-up, each department head managed their unit as a fiefdom, limiting collaboration across the organization.
- personal fiefdom
- own fiefdom
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Watch on YouTubeBut it's hard to manage the cost now because the professionals are running their own little fiefdoms.
- But it's hard to manage the cost now because the professionals are running their own little fiefdoms.
- They will often view the neighborhood or the apartment or condo building you live in as their personal fiefdom and just do what they want.
- It is true that for a long time, less so now, laboratories were sort of like little fiefdoms.
- Ruling neighborhoods as fiefdoms where violence and beauty still lie down together.
- They have this sort of fiefdom idea of needing to protect their space on the battlefield, if you will.
Examples
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Thus, each warlord rules his region as a fiefdom, enforcing laws and even collecting taxes.
Academic text (1997) -
How could Corner Man maintain his little fiefdom for years without Metro looking the other way?
Blog text (24) -
But they did admit that each individual ambassador runs her little fiefdom as she sees fit.
Blog text (7) -
Hani's interests extend only to his own little fiefdom.
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New professional fiefdoms arise and old ones pass away.
Academic text (2010) -
And without reliable means of communication and transportation, remote local administrative units become isolated, independent fiefdoms.
Academic text (2001) -
Today, the country is divided into several hostile fiefdoms, and anarchy reigns in much of the countryside.
Academic text (1997) -
Provincial governors threatened and bargained with the Kremlin while exploiting their regions like feudal fiefdoms.
Academic text (2002) -
In the small town, the mayor's decisions created a personal fiefdom that excluded the voices of the community.
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The corporation operated like a fiefdom, with the CEO exercising complete control over all departments.
Synonyms
459
3.5
A group of countries that one ruler or government controls
56
5.6
An area controlled by a ruler, government, or organization
3
9.9
Lands and people under the control of an emperor
2
9.9
A noble title that includes land and duties in some countries
2
9.9
A region of land ruled by a person with a high royal title
1
9.9
A piece of land given by a lord to a person who serves them
1
7.1
A society or community ruled by a leader called a chief
1
9.3
A country or area with a Muslim leader called a sheikh
1
9.9
The power and land a lord had in the Middle Ages
1
9.9
A land area controlled by a ruler or state
1
8.8
A part of a place or group that one person controls like their own property
A piece of land a lord gives to someone for their service
Idioms
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Fiefdom comes from fief, which was 'land given by a lord in return for service', and the ending -dom, the same as in kingdom, meaning 'area ruled by'. So a fiefdom was once a piece of land controlled by one person, and today it means any area or organization run like someone's private little kingdom.