suzereignty

Noun

suzerainty (countable and uncountable, plural suzerainties)

1. A relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own government, but is unable to take international action independent of the superior state.
   • under suzerainty to

   Synonyms:

   suzerainship

2. A similar relationship between other entities.
   • She was tired of living under suzerainty to her parents.
3. The status or power of a suzerain.
   • In the N-Town Passion Play I, Lucifer is an implied presenter of the play and an implied controller of its events. He addresses the audience directly and confidentially in an extraordinary 124-line adoxograph which is part social satire and part seriocomic plea for our commitment to his suzerainty...2005, John W. Velz, “Adoxography as Mode of Discourse for Satan and His Underlings in Medieval Plays”, in Clifford Davidson, editor, The Dramatic Tradition of the Middle Ages [AMS Studies in the...