ancien régime
Americannoun
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the political and social system of France before the revolution of 1789.
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the system of government during this period.
noun
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the political and social system of France before the Revolution of 1789
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a former or outdated regime
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ancien régime
First recorded in 1790–95; from French; literally, “old rule”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It caught in freeze frame an ancien régime at its late-decadent height, oblivious to the revolution about to displace it.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2020
It was a building that was all crisp Modernism on the outside, buttery ancien régime within.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2019
You see, Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel of nasty musical beds in ancien régime France takes place amid a thin, rarefied air that is as much perfume as oxygen.
From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2016
Everything is judged according to sacred precepts—“harmony,” “impulsion,” “self-carriage,” “submission”—that have come down intact from the ancien régime.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 1, 2016
They spent a couple of days in looking for the antiquities of Montreal, trying to find the romantic atmosphere of New France under the ancien régime.
From Days Off And Other Digressions by Van Dyke, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
