vassal
noun
vas·sal
| \ ˈva-səl
\
\
Definition of vassal
1
: a person under the protection of a feudal lord to whom he has vowed homage and fealty : a feudal tenant
2
: one in a subservient or subordinate position
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Examples of vassal in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
So, that's part of it-- MICHAEL MORELL: With every other country being its vassal? — CBS News, "Transcript: Jim Sciutto talks with Michael Morell on "Intelligence Matters"," 21 Aug. 2019 Georgia lost control of two separatist territories in the conflict; the regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are now effectively Russian vassal states. — Washington Post, "Georgia: Protests held by parliament for 4th straight day," 23 June 2019 The Chinese felt that the first foreign trip from North Korea should be to China. Because the Chinese look at the North Koreans as vassals. — Fox News, "Graham hails Trump's stance on North Korea, trade and Russia," 28 Mar. 2018 Tikal’s king was killed and replaced by an outsider, and the kingdom became something like a vassal state to the foreign state. — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, "The Lost World of the Maya is Finally Emerging From the Jungle," 7 Feb. 2019 The kings of the 16th dynasty survived as vassals of the Hyksos, but the 17th dynasty began to fight back with the help of three women, all queens of Thebes: Tetisheri, daughter Ahhotep, and granddaughter Ahmose Nefertari. — National Geographic, "How three rebel queens of Egypt overthrew an empire and gave birth to a new kingdom," 7 Mar. 2019 Beijing isn’t creating vassal states through predatory lending. — Nathaniel Taplin, WSJ, "One Belt, One Road, and a Lot of Debt," 2 May 2019 The way to deal with China, and thus North Korea, its naughty but wholly dependent vassal, is not by a failing and provocative attempt to weaken it, but by attending to America’s diminishing strengths. — Mark Helprin, WSJ, "The U.S. Is Ceding the Pacific to China," 3 Mar. 2019 And inside Europe, the skeptics today aren’t in Paris but in the former Soviet vassal-states in the east that, despite all their misgivings, still view the U.S. as the only credible guarantor of their survival as independent nations. — Yaroslav Trofimov, WSJ, "Is Europe Ready to Defend Itself?," 4 Jan. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vassal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for vassal
vassal
noun
English Language Learners Definition of vassal
: a person in the past who received protection and land from a lord in return for loyalty and service
See the full definition for vassal in the English Language Learners Dictionary
vassal
noun
vas·sal
| \ ˈva-səl
\
\
Kids Definition of vassal
: a person in the Middle Ages who received protection and land from a lord in return for loyalty and service
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