viscount
/ˈvʌɪkaʊnt
/noun
A British nobleman ranking above a baron and below an earl.The wives of a king, prince, duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron are queen, princess, duchess, marchioness, countess, viscountess and baroness respectively....
- The territorial power of the English magnates (the barons, viscounts, earls, marquesses, and dukes in ascending order of status) was crucial to the peace of the realm and the success of royal government.
- ‘In my time, I've known dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and other members of Britain's House of Lords and none of them had the contempt for the masses one routinely hears from America's coastal elites.’
Derivatives
viscountcy
/ noun ...- The eldest son normally takes as his courtesy title the family viscountcy.
- The captain's vicar father had unexpectedly inherited a viscountcy, and it made Amanda sad that the Ramsfords still seemed on the fringe of the ton.
- Mr Benn, 75, who renounced in 1963 the viscountcy he inherited from his father, had a majority of 5,775 at the 1997 election.
viscountship
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French visconte, from medieval Latin vicecomes, vicecomit- (see vice-, count2).