third estate

American  

noun

1. the third of the three estates or political orders: the commons in France or England.

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third estate British  

noun

1. the third order or class in a country or society divided into estates, esp for representation in a parliament; the commons, townsmen, or middle class

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Etymology

Origin of third estate

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third estate

And now the fencing has come to the Supreme Court, to the third estate.

From Washington Post ● May 10, 2022

The term had a special resonance with his Francophone audience because it recalled the third estate, “tiers-état,” of the French Revolution.

From Time ● Aug. 26, 2015

On the 19th of November Parliament met again, and in a mood which boded ill for the relations between the sovereign and the third estate of his realm.

From William the Third by H. D. (Henry Duff) Traill

The third estate wanted civil liberty above all; political liberty came second only, as a means and guarantee for the former.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 7 "Fox, George" to "France" by Various

Hence, to Saint Simon the antagonism between the third estate and the privileged classes took the form of an antagonism between "workers" and "idlers."

From Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Friedrich Engels