vassal

How to use vassal in a sentence. Example sentences and definitions for vassal.

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Editorial note

At least then we'll know just how much of a vassal relationship they have with US.

Examples8

Definitions1

Parts of speech1

Quick take

a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of vassal gathered in one view.

noun

a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for vassal.

noun

a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord

Example sentences

At least then we'll know just how much of a vassal relationship they have with US.

This didn't end well for Porsche, though, which is now a quavering vassal of Volkswagen AG.

The feudal arrangement was that lords contracted the land out to vassals, who then employed serfs to work it.

The Philippines are essentially a US vassal state, and tends to care about freedom of navigation in this region.

All past and presents efforts instead focus on Cuba becoming a vassal, puppet state to US commercial interests.

Lest we forget, the GDR was also a vassal of the nuclear-armed Soviet Union, and the KGB was not an imaginary entity.

Allowing a country like China or India to be the first to develop reliable, cheap, renewable energy would be a total game changer that could leave us as an also-ran country or vassal state.

The main difference in the power relationship seems to be that modern serf-users are free to choose their lords, leading to greater competition among rival lords, whereas feudal serfs were born into the service of a single vassal, who in turn served a single lord.