feudalism

Noun

feudalism (countable and uncountable, plural feudalisms)

1. A social system based on personal ownership of resources and personal fealty between a suzerain (lord) and a vassal (subject). Defining characteristics are direct ownership of resources, personal loyalty, and a hierarchical social structure reinforced by religion.
   • It was the beginning of a feudalism of the range, a barony rude enough, but a glorious one, albeit it began, like all feudalism, in large-handed theft and generous murdering.1921, Emerson Hough, The Passing of the Frontier: A Chronicle of the Old West, page 34
   • The re-emergence of empire was thwarted by immense topographical variety, coastal confolutions, and wide-openness to the east, which made Christendom difficult to organize and defend as a whole from Viking, barbarian and Islamic attacks round its perimeter; by natural temperateness, which rendered...2003, Ian Douglas, Richard John Hugget, Companion Encyclopedia of Geography, page 212