estate

American  

[ih-stayt] / 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

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Etymology

Origin of estate

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

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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

Equal treatment in an estate plan doesn’t necessarily produce outcomes that feel fair.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Some of those living in a new-build housing estate nearby are concerned about the project, including James George, 32, who said he was worried about the impact on the environment and his home.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

She realized she wanted to spend more time in the city when celebrating her daughter Maxwell’s 11th birthday, and began “looking at real estate that day.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

But asking prices for homes have risen by about 90 percent in Spain over the past decade, while average rents have almost doubled, according to real estate website Idealista.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

More than sixty million dollars’ worth of real estate was built here last year, he said, and it’s all because of the World’s Fair.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

For families with complex estates, consolidating accounts and assets under one trustee can help everything run more smoothly.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

Official data shows higher value estates pay the majority of the inheritance tax collected.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

He boasted it would bring "Borrowdale Brooke to Gandami" - a reference to one of Harare's most exclusive residential estates.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

He traveled as a private citizen, rather than a politician, reveling in the region’s splendors, its ruins and estates, gardens and canals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

“Magnificence,” murmured Reznak mo Reznak, “we cannot know that these great nobles mean to join your enemies. More like they are simply making for their estates in the hills.”

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

I mean, of course, of the elder branch, for there are swarms of the others, well to do and prosperous also, and with fine estated properties.

From A Day's Ride A Life's Romance by Charles James Lever

Every class, from the estated proprietor to the humblest peasant, is loud in asserting that the story is an infamous falsehood.

From Lord Kilgobbin by Charles James Lever

This system was, however, especially disadvantageous to one class of estated proprietors, the Municipalities.

From Ancient Law Its Connection to the History of Early Society by Sir Henry Sumner Maine

You ain't above taking all our money and seeing us starve; and that when you have got everything round you here like an estated gentleman, as you are?'

From John Caldigate by Anthony Trollope

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

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