principality

Etymology

From Middle English principalte, principalite, from Anglo-Norman principalté, Middle French principalté, from Late Latin prīncipālitās, from Latin prīncipālis (“principal”) + -tās. Equivalent to principal + -ity.

noun

  1. (countable) A region or sovereign nation headed by a prince or princess.
    At this time Russia consisted of a dozen or so principalities, which were frequently at war with one another. 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 14
  2. (theology, countable) A spiritual being, specifically in Christian angelology, the fifth level of angels, ranked above powers and below dominions.
  3. (obsolete) The state of being a prince or ruler; sovereignty, absolute authority.
  4. (now rare) The state of being principal; pre-eminence.

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/principality), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.