Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A territory ruled by a prince or princess or from which such a title is derived.
- noun The position, authority, or jurisdiction of a prince or princess; sovereignty.
- noun Christianity The seventh of the nine orders of angels in medieval angelology.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or condition of being principal or superior; priority or privilege; prerogative; predominance; preëminence.
- noun The authority of a prince; sovereignty; supreme power.
- noun The territory of a prince, or the country which gives title to a prince: as, the principality of Wales; the principality of Montenegro.
- noun A prince; one invested with sovereignty.
- noun plural An order of angels. It was the seventh order in the celestial hierarchy of Dionysius. See
hierarchy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Sovereignty; supreme power; hence, superiority; predominance; high, or the highest, station.
- noun A prince; one invested with sovereignty.
- noun The territory or jurisdiction of a prince; or the country which gives title to a prince.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun territory ruled by a prince
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Highness to rule save a tract so small that the word principality will be a travesty and a jest.
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106 † Antioch, 107 whose situation had been less exposed to the calamities of the holy war, was finally occupied and ruined by Bondocdar, or Bibars, sultan of Egypt and Syria; the Latin principality was extinguished; and the first seat of the Christian name was dispeopled by the slaughter of seventeen, and the captivity of one hundred, thousand of her inhabitants.
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Silver is described as a principality (or series of principalities?), so is it logical that our intrepid heroes can ride through one "district" in a day?
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The principality is the latest European tax haven to bend to an international outcry over tax evasion.
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Among the notable constructions of the principality are the ancient fortifications, the old ducal palace which contains beautiful frescoes by Annibale Carracci, Orazio Ferrari, and Carlone, the cathedral, built (1884-87) in the Byzantine style, by Prince Albert
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Twenty-five by one hundred fifty miles, and yet called a principality!
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One prince, a member of the late ruling family, held possession of Szchuen, which was called the principality of Chow.
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Napoleonic fashion, into the so-called principality of Wagram.
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The constitutional principality, which is roughly the size of New York City's Central Park is home to the world famous Monte Carlo Casino, 13th-century Prince's Palace, F1 Grand Prix and superb shops and dining.
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It is certainly true that when the US or the UK, for example, level accusations that the principality is a 'tax haven' there is an element of hypocrisy, with the large imposing standards on the small that they themselves fail to match.
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