bailiwick
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English
Etymology
From bailie (“bailiff”) and wick (“dwelling”), from Old English wīc.
Pronunciation
Noun
bailiwick (plural bailiwicks)
- The district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.
- The Bailiwick of Jersey.
- A person's concern or sphere of operations, their area of skill or authority.
- 1961, Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt:
- I established the fairly well-understood pattern that affairs of state were not in my bailiwick.
- 2020 September 28, Alex McLevy, “Marilynne Robinson finds transcendence in the stunning, soul-searching Jack”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 1 October 2020:
- Jack is full of these insights, thoughtful turns of phrase from a character whose perpetual struggle between wastrel and righteous is all too familiar a bailiwick for the universal insecurities of the human condition.
Synonyms
- (area or subject of authority or involvement): domain, department, jurisdiction, sphere, province, territory, turf, pale, wheelhouse.
Related terms
Translations
precincts within which a bailiff has jurisdiction
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area or subject of authority or involvement
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References
- “bailiwick”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.