Suzerain
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A dominant nation or state that has control over the international affairs of a subservient state which otherwise has domestic autonomy.
"Suzerainty is a term which was originally used for the relation between the feudal lord and his vassal; the lord was said to be the suzerain of the vassal, and at that time suzerainty was a term of Constitutional Law only. With the disappearance of the feudal system, suzerainty of this kind likewise disappeared. Modern suzerainty involves only a few rights of the suzerain State over the vassal State which can be called constitutional rights. The rights of the suzerain State over the vassal are principally international rights, of whatever they may consist."
- 2 a state exercising a degree of dominion over a dependent state especially in its foreign affairs wordnet
- 3 A feudal landowner to whom vassals were forced to pledge allegiance. historical
Example
More examples"Suzerainty is a term which was originally used for the relation between the feudal lord and his vassal; the lord was said to be the suzerain of the vassal, and at that time suzerainty was a term of Constitutional Law only. With the disappearance of the feudal system, suzerainty of this kind likewise disappeared. Modern suzerainty involves only a few rights of the suzerain State over the vassal State which can be called constitutional rights. The rights of the suzerain State over the vassal are principally international rights, of whatever they may consist."
Etymology
From French suzerain, based on sus (“up, above”) (from Latin sursum) with the ending of souverain (whence also English sovereign).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.