Word.ws English Dictionary

signory

UK/ˈsiːnjəɹi/

signory noun: a territory or domain, especially under a feudal lordship.

Noun

signory (plural signories)

  1. (archaic) A territory or domain, especially under a feudal lordship.
    • Such honour was done in thoſe dayes to men who profeſt the ſtudy of wiſdome and eloquence, not only in their own Country, but in other Lands, that Cities and Siniories heard them gladly, and with great reſpect, if they had ought in publick to admoniſh the State.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 3
  2. Overlordship, dominion.
  3. (historical) A ruling assembly, specifically of various Italian republics; a signoria.

Forms of signory

pluralsignories

Origin of signory

From Middle English seignurie, from Anglo-Norman seignurie, Middle French signeurie, signerie et al., later influenced by Italian signoria. Compare seigniory.

Questions about signory

What does signory mean?
Signory means a territory or domain, especially under a feudal lordship.
What part of speech is signory?
Signory is a noun.
How do you pronounce signory?
Signory is pronounced /ˈsiːnjəɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of signory?
The plural of signory is signories.

Words near signory in the dictionary

  1. signorine
  2. signorise
  3. signors
  4. signorship
  5. signorships
  6. signory
  7. signout
  8. signouts
  9. signpainter
  10. signpainters
  11. signpost

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: signory (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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Cite this entry: “signory.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/signory. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.