estate

American  

[ih-steyt] / ɪˈsteɪt /

noun

• estates
  plural

1. a piece of landed property, especially one of large extent with an elaborate house on it.

   to have an estate in the country.

2. Law.

   1. property or possessions.

   2. the legal position or status of an owner, considered with respect to property owned in land or other things.

   3. the degree or quantity of interest that a person has in land with respect to the nature of the right, its duration, or its relation to the rights of others.

   4. interest, ownership, or property in land or other things.

   5. the property of a deceased person, a bankrupt, etc., viewed as an aggregate.

3. British. a housing development.

4. a period or condition of life.

   to attain to man's estate.

5. a major political or social group or class, especially one once having specific political powers, as the clergy, nobles, and commons in France or the lords spiritual, lords temporal, and commons in England.

6. condition or circumstances with reference to worldly prosperity, estimation, etc.; social status or rank.

7. Obsolete. pomp or state.

8. Obsolete. high social status or rank.

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verb (used with object)

estated, estating

1. Obsolete. to establish in or as in an estate.

estate British  

/ ɪˈsteɪt /

noun

1. a large piece of landed property, esp in the country

2. a large area of property development, esp of new houses or ( trading estate ) of factories

3. property law

   1. property or possessions

   2. the nature of interest that a person has in land or other property, esp in relation to the right of others

   3. the total extent of the real and personal property of a deceased person or bankrupt

4. Also called: estate of the realm.  an order or class of persons in a political community, regarded collectively as a part of the body politic: usually regarded as being the lords temporal (peers), lords spiritual, and commons See also States General fourth estate

5. state, period, or position in life, esp with regard to wealth or social standing

   youth's estate

   a poor man's estate

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Synonym Usage

See property.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• estates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of estate

1175–1225; Middle English estat < Middle French; cognate with Provençal estat. See state

Explanation

The word estate is mostly used to mean a massive and fabulous house on a big piece of land. When you own an estate, it usually means you have a whole lot of money to go along with it. While an estate refers mostly to land and a house on it, it can also refer to all of a person’s possessions — and this sense of the word is often used after someone has died to refer to everything they are leaving behind. “You are set to inherit half of your grandfather’s estate, which includes his entire collection of stuffed raccoons.” In the past (and sometimes still) estate was also used to refer to someone’s state or condition, as well as his or her social standing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

estate estates estated

She was buried on an island in the Spencers' Althorp estate, rather than a graveyard - and the book describes how a bishop was brought to consecrate the ground to make it possible.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

“Just do the tried and true thing with GRATs,” said Diana Zeydel, an estate lawyer and global chair of the private wealth services practice at Greenberg Traurig in Miami.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

“Of course it could be frustrating,” said her daughter Brigitte, an elegant, soft-spoken scholar of Semitic languages who has managed Caland’s estate since her death in 2019.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

This will help reduce the size of your estate that goes through probate.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

Sheep-dotted meadows were hardly a novelty to three English children who lived on a country estate, but seeing the landscape flick by through the windows of a fast-moving train certainly was, and they were captivated.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

Led by trained volunteers and held over coast paths and garden estates to town parks, the walks range from 10 to 90 minutes and are aimed at all abilities.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

The tiny village is nestled along the southern shore of Lake Erie and offers a mix of multimillion-dollar estates and more modest residences.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

She was one of the few Chinese students, and was surrounded by scions of centuries-old wine estates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Moreover, he’s a chess-playing, gourmet cooking, crime fiction aficionado and jazz lover equally comfortable on the mean streets of East Daygo and in the lush life of La Jolla Farms estates.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

After Madoc stole us from the human world, he brought us to his estates on Insmire, the Isle of Might, where the High King of Elfhame keeps his stronghold.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

Had Thady Macdermot had ready money, it might have been well built; but though an estated gentleman, he had none.

From The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope

There were deeds, and bonds, and leases, rent-rolls, and valuations, and powers of attorney, and all the other imposing accessories of estated property.

From The Martins Of Cro' Martin, Vol. II (of II) by Charles James Lever

Roger North tells us that “they admitted all strangers that were confidingly introduced, for it was a main end of their institutions to make proselytes, especially of the raw estated youth newly come to town.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various

But Thaddeus, otherwise Thady Macdermot, being an estated gentleman, must have a gentleman's residence on his estate, and the house of Ballycloran was accordingly built.

From The Macdermots of Ballycloran by Anthony Trollope

There he lived like an estated gentleman, for Prairie du Pont was then nothing but a cluster of tenants around his feet.

From The Chase of Saint-Castin and Other Stories of the French in the New World by Mary Hartwell Catherwood

Related Words

• area
• farm
• parcel
• plantation
• ranch
• residence