However, in the general use of Gozoku as the meaning of 'a potent clan' or 'powerful clan' (for example the use like 'Gozoku in △△ District, OO Province' in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts), the term "Gozoku" was often used to describe Jito (manager and lord of manor), Akuto (a villain in the medieval times), and samurai families at the same level as daimyo in the feudal lord class from Kokujin (local samurai) in the subsequent periods, and they were sometimes described as Gozoku until the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States) and the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
しかし、豪族を、「勢力のある一族」「有力な一族」という意味での一般的な使用（例えば「南北朝時代の○○国△△郡の豪族」というような使用）では、豪族という形容は、その後の時代の地頭や悪党、国人出自などの領主クラスの大名分の武家に対してしばしば使用され、戦国時代・安土桃山時代まで豪族という形容をすることがある。