Bailiwick

//ˈbeɪ.lɪ.wɪk// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.

    "The Bailiwick of Jersey."

  2. 2
    a branch of knowledge wordnet
  3. 3
    A person's concern or sphere of operations, their area of skill or authority.

    "I established the fairly well-understood pattern that affairs of state were not in my bailiwick."

  4. 4
    the area over which a bailiff has jurisdiction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
domainambitarchbishopricarchdioceseareaarea of authority

Example

More examples

"Sark is part of the English Channel Islands off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and has its own set of laws based on Norman law, its own parliament, and exchequer."

Etymology

From bailie (“bailiff”) and wick (“dwelling”), from Old English wīc.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.