protectorate
pruh tek tuh ruht
- n a state or territory partly controlled by (but not a possession of) a stronger state but autonomous in internal affairs; protectorates are established by treaty
- When pretty Catherine Loh was elected Miss Malaysia last April, the pert beauty from the oil-rich British protectorate of Brunei fully expected to preside over the independence .
- Under the French protectorate (1912-56), the once proud university sank even lower as a kind of Moslem Kaffeeklatsch, without exams or degrees, a place of courtyard classrooms .
- For months the bush telegraph of Brunei had flashed the warning that deep inside the Delaware-size oil-rich British protectorate on the north coast of Borneo, a secret rebel army.