estate
Pronunciation: /ɪˈsteɪt, ɛ-/
Translate estate | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of estate
noun
- 2 (also estate of the realm) a class or order regarded as forming part of the body politic, in particular (in Britain), one of the three groups constituting Parliament, now the Lords spiritual (the heads of the Church), the Lords temporal (the peerage), and the Commons. They are also known as the three estates: the unions are no longer an estate of the realm
Origin:
Middle English (in the sense 'state or condition'): from Old French estat, from Latin status 'state, condition', from stare 'to stand'
