Fealty

//ˈfiː.əlti// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Fidelity to one's lord or master; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord. countable, uncountable

    "I doubt whether the most devoted fidelity would bear strict examination as to the short reposes even the most entire fealty permits itself."

  2. 2
    the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
allegianceallegianceacquiescenceadherenceadhesionardor

Example

More examples

"If you don't show fealty to the crown then your lands will be pillaged."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English feaute, feute, from Anglo-Norman fëauté, fëuté, from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness”; “homage, fealty” in Medieval Latin), from fidēlis (“faithful”) + -tās (noun suffix); the modern form (for expected *feauty /ˈfjuːti/) is due to learned influence. Equivalent to obsolete feal + -ty. Doublet of fidelity.

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