fealty

American  

[fee-uhl-tee] / ˈfi əl ti /

noun

PLURAL

fealties

1. History/Historical.

   1. fidelity to a lord.

   2. the obligation or the engagement to be faithful to a lord, usually sworn to by a vassal.

2. fidelity; faithfulness.

   Synonyms:

   devotion , loyalty

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fealty British  

/ ˈfiːəltɪ /

noun

1. (in feudal society) the loyalty sworn to one's lord on becoming his vassal See homage

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Other Word Forms

• nonfealty noun
• unfealty noun

Etymology

Origin of fealty

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English feute, feaute, fealtye, from Anglo-French, Old French feauté, fealté, from Latin fidēlitāt- (stem of fidēlitās ) fidelity; internal -au-, -al- from feal, reshaping (by substitution of -al- -al ¹ ) of fe(d)eil, from Latin fidēlis

Example Sentences

All of them were there to demonstrate their fealty to the man who would be king.

From Salon

It’s also about the credibility of this Court’s conservative majority, and the consistency of its rulings on major questions, fealty to statutory language, and whether a President can claim the taxing power as his own.

From The Wall Street Journal

The segues between tracks are seamless, in no small part due to Rodríguez’s immaculate production and fealty to the tempo of the times.

From Los Angeles Times

He sounds like an apparatchik addressing a party congress on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, repeatedly declaring fealty to “the committee,” using Marxist buzzwords like “praxis,” and casually deploying “Zionist” as a slur.

From The Wall Street Journal

Former Soviet republics in Central Asia are displaying less fealty to Moscow, choosing to draw alliances instead with China and the European Union.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• faithfulness
• loyalty