Adjacent Words

Fealty definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FE'ALTY, n. [L. fidelis.]
Fidelity to a lord; faithful adherence of a tenant or vassal to the superior of whom he holds his lands; loyalty. Under the feudal system of tenures, every vassal or tenant was bound to be true and faithful to his lord, and to defend him against all his enemies. This obligation was called his fidelity or fealty, and an oath of fealty was required to be taken by all tenants to their landlords. The tenant was called a liege man; the land, a liege fee; and the superior, liege lord. [See Liege.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign) [syn: allegiance, fealty]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: Middle English feute, fealtye, from Anglo-French feelté, fealté, from Latin fidelitat-, fidelitas — more at fidelity Date: 14th century 1. a. the fidelity of a vassal or feudal tenant to his lord b. the obligation of such fidelity 2. intense fidelity Synonyms: see fidelity

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 hist. a a feudal tenant's or vassal's fidelity to a lord. b an acknowledgement of this. 2 allegiance. Etymology: ME f. OF feaulté f. L fidelitas -tatis f. fidelis faithful f. fides faith

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fealty Fe"al*ty, n. [OE. faute, OF. faut['e], fealt['e], feel['e], feelteit, fr. L. fidelitas, fr. fidelis faithful. See Feal, and cf. Fidelity.] 1. Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord; the special oath by which this obligation was assumed; fidelity to a superior power, or to a government; loyality. It is no longer the practice to exact the performance of fealty, as a feudal obligation. --Wharton (Law Dict. ). Tomlins. 2. Fidelity; constancy; faithfulness, as of a friend to a friend, or of a wife to her husband. He should maintain fealty to God. --I. Taylor. Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes, and saps The fealty of our friends. --tennyson. Swore fealty to the new government. --Macaulay. Note: Fealty is distinguished from homage, which is an acknowledgment of tenure, while fealty implies an oath. See Homage. --Wharton. Syn: Homage; loyality; fidelity; constancy.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

In former times, if someone swore fealty to their ruler, they promised to be loyal to him or her. = allegiance

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Allegiance, homage, loyalty (to a feudal lord). 2. Fidelity, loyalty, faithfulness, honor, good faith, devotion.

Moby Thesaurus

acquiescence, adherence, adhesion, allegiance, ardor, assigned task, attachment, bona fides, bond, bonne foi, bounden duty, burden, business, call of duty, charge, commitment, compliance, conformity, constancy, dedication, deference, dependability, devoir, devotedness, devotion, duteousness, duties and responsibilities, dutifulness, duty, ethics, faith, faithfulness, fidelity, firmness, good faith, homage, imperative, line of duty, loyalty, mission, must, obedience, obediency, obligation, observance, onus, ought, piety, place, reliability, respect, self-imposed duty, service, servility, servitium, staunchness, steadfastness, submission, submissiveness, suit and service, suit service, support, tie, troth, true blue, trueness, trustworthiness, truth, willingness