feudal
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or like the feudal system, or its political, military, social, and economic structure.
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of or relating to the Middle Ages.
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of, relating to, or of the nature of a fief or fee.
a feudal estate.
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of or relating to the holding of land in a fief or fee.
adjective
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of, resembling, relating to, or characteristic of feudalism or its institutions
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of, characteristic of, or relating to a fief Compare allodial
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derogatory old-fashioned, reactionary, etc
adjective
Other Word Forms
- antifeudal adjective
- feudally adverb
- nonfeudal adjective
- nonfeudally adverb
- prefeudal adjective
- quasi-feudal adjective
- quasi-feudally adverb
- unfeudal adjective
- unfeudally adverb
Etymology
Origin of feudal
From the Medieval Latin word feudālis, dating back to 1605–15. See feud 2, -al 1
Explanation
Anything feudal relates to the medieval system of feudalism — where the nobility owned the land while everyone else worked it. It was no fun to be a lowly serf in the feudal system. Though it has roots in Latin, the adjective feudal (and its relative feudalism) were created by historians to describe the social system after it actually took place. Feudal may both look and sound similar to feud as in a long standing fight, but it’s not actually related — unless the argument happened to take place in medieval Europe.
Vocabulary lists containing feudal
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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Vocabulary from the Magna Carta on its 800th Anniversary
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"Democracy in America, Vol. 1" by Alexis de Tocqueville, Introduction–Chapter 5
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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 19th century gave us Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” about an American who finds himself in feudal England.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025
Every spring, Ellison throws a cherry blossom festival party for his friends at his Japanese-style feudal estate in Woodside, Calif.
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
The film delved into the loneliness of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a philandering, often tyrannical landlord in an opulent yet feudal world.
From BBC • Jul. 5, 2025
But there are significant differences between then and now: Under the feudal system, the lord had, in principle, certain obligations to peasants in addition to his right to command them.
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2025
The antiunion coalfields of West Virginia came close to the feudal systems of the Middle Ages, where the lower classes worked for landowners and remained indebted to them for life.
From "Fannie Never Flinched" by Mary Cronk Farrell
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.
