suzerain

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“
We will acknowledge the Empress of India as our suzerain, and secure for her the Levantine coast.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A nation that controls another nation in international affairs but allows it domestic sovereignty.
  2. noun A feudal lord to whom fealty was due.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French suserain : probably sus, up (from Latin sūrsum, sūsum, upward, from *subsvorsum, turned upward : subs-, sub-, from under; see sub- + vorsum, neuter of vorsus, variant of versus, past participle of vertere, to turn; see versus) + souverein, sovereign; see sovereign.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French (and F.) suzerain, sovereign but not supreme; seigneur suzerain, a lord who holds a fief of which other fiefs are held, or who has exclusive jurisdiction (Roquefort); apparently formed, in imitation of saverain, soverein, etc., sovereign (with which Roquefort in fact identifies it), with termination -er-ain (as if from Middle Latin *suseranus, *surseranus), from Old French sus, from Latin sursum, above, for *suvorsum, from sub, under, from under, + vorsus, versus, past participle of vertere, turn (cf. retrorse, introrse): see sub- and verse, and cf. subvert.
 

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/ˈsjuzərən/
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