Word.ws English Dictionary

fee simple

fee simple noun: the private ownership of property (real estate) in which the owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will.

Noun

fee simple (plural fees simple)

  1. The private ownership of property (real estate) in which the owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will.
    • Sir, for a Cardceue he will ſell the fee-ſimple of his ſaluation, the inheritance of it, and cut th’ intaile from all remainders, and a perpetuall ſucceſsion for it perpetually.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • It had never occurred to me that a parson has no fee-simple in the house and glebe he occupies.1787, William Cowper, letter, 19 October

Forms of fee simple

pluralfees simple

Origin of fee simple

From Old French fief simple.

Questions about fee simple

What does fee simple mean?
Fee simple means the private ownership of property (real estate) in which the owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will.
What part of speech is fee simple?
Fee simple is a noun.
What is the plural of fee simple?
The plural of fee simple is fees simple.

Words near fee simple in the dictionary

  1. Fedzilla
  2. fee
  3. fee fees
  4. fee schedule
  5. fee schedules
  6. fee simple
  7. fee simple absolute in possession
  8. fee simple determinable
  9. fee simple subject to condition subsequent
  10. fee simple subject to executory interest
  11. fee simple subject to executory limitation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fee simple (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “fee simple.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fee_simple. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.