Word.ws English Dictionary

in fief

in fief prepositional phrase: as a heritable right, according to the prevailing feudal obligations.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (historical) As a heritable right, according to the prevailing feudal obligations.
    • In some cases, sovereignties have been given in fief, and sovereigns have voluntarily rendered themselves feudatories to others […].1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia, volume 34, page 11
    • William the Conqueror's insistence that the men who accompanied him from Normandy hold their English lands from him in fief was an innovation, not the simple importation of an established French "feudal system."1998, Constance Brittain Bouchard, Strong of Body, Brave and Noble, page 42

Questions about in fief

What does in fief mean?
In fief means as a heritable right, according to the prevailing feudal obligations.
What part of speech is in fief?
In fief is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in fief in the dictionary

  1. in favor with
  2. in favour
  3. in favour of
  4. in fawn
  5. in fee
  6. in fief
  7. in fighting trim
  8. in finality
  9. in fine
  10. in fine feather
  11. in fine fettle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in fief (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.

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