protectorate

protector +‎ -ate

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈtɛktəɹɪt/

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• Hyphenation: pro‧tec‧tor‧ate

protectorate (plural protectorates)

1. Government by a protector; especially, the government of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Oliver Cromwell.
2. The authority assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs but the protected state retains its nominal sovereignty.

   Egypt became a British protectorate in 1914.

3. An autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity.

• protectorate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.