bailiwick
Americannoun
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the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.
-
a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work.
to confine suggestions to one's own bailiwick.
- Synonyms:
- turf, territory, sphere, department, domain
noun
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law the area over which a bailiff has jurisdiction
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a person's special field of interest, authority, or skill
Other Word Forms
- subbailiwick noun
Etymology
Origin of bailiwick
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, equivalent to baili- bailie + wick wick 3
Explanation
A bailiwick is an area of knowledge in which a person or institution has control or expertise — as in "My bailiwick is international relations." There is a faintly old-fashioned, even pedantic air to the term now, so use with caution. Bailiwick can also mean a geographical area over which an official body has legal or political control, though this literal sense is less common nowadays. The word combines the Old English term bailiff, a local law officer, with -wick, a suffix denoting a specific district or jurisdiction. Britain's central criminal court, the famous Old Bailey, is so named because it was built along the ancient bailey — the defensive wall surrounding the original City of London.
Vocabulary lists containing bailiwick
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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The Secret History
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How the Other Half Lives
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The bailiwick is placed below the UK and France in the 2025 survey and its overall score was unchanged compared with 2023.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
But he has intervened in reviews and jettisoned other drugs that fall outside his bailiwick.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
Another example, also in E&C’s bailiwick, is a priority of the committee chairman, Brett Guthrie.
From Slate • May 17, 2025
They are already reportedly chafing at the Musk "DOGE" contraption since budgeting really is their bailiwick and they want to do the cutting themselves.
From Salon • Dec. 11, 2024
“Yeah. That’s the way we been asked to play it. Bernie here—it’s his bailiwick, his jurisdiction, as the saying goes, right Bernie?”
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
