ancien régime

American  

[ahn-syan rey-zheem] / ɑ̃ syɛ̃ reɪˈʒim /

noun

French.

plural

anciens régimes

1. the political and social system of France before the revolution of 1789.

2. the system of government during this period.

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ancien régime British  

/ ɑ̃sjɛ̃ reʒim /

noun

1. the political and social system of France before the Revolution of 1789

2. a former or outdated regime

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ancien régime Cultural  

1. The political and social order that prevailed in France before the French Revolution, built on a belief in absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings.

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Etymology

Origin of ancien régime

First recorded in 1790–95; from French; literally, “old rule”

Example Sentences

This wasn’t quite the little white empire-line muslin dress familiar from Jane Austen costume dramas, but it was heading that way from the exoskeleton corsetry of the ancien régime.

From Slate • Jul. 21, 2025

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

Have you ever noticed that the ancien régime, in spite of grievous shortcomings, by a sort of historical tradition, maintained a certain respect for efficiency in its different forms?

From The Cult of Incompetence by Barstow, Beatrice