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

Lineage is a real estate investment trust, meaning it is publicly traded and answers to shareholders.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Medicaid estate recovery rules would also allow the state to seek reimbursement for certain long-term-care expenses after your cousin’s death.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026

In his plea, Max acknowledged bartering art for real estate and hiding income to buy real estate in Southampton, New York, the US Virgin Islands and upstate New York.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

"It features the smallest start line across the series in this country due to single-track trails and estate gates," he added.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Some crafty bond market person had gazed upon the subprime mortgage sprawl, as an ambitious real estate developer might gaze upon Oakland, and found an opportunity to rebrand some of the turf.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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

Drained peatlands, industrial timber estates and oil palm plantations can leave landscapes more vulnerable to burning, with fires often recurring in the same areas.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 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

While some sporting estates remain opposed to "rewilding", others have embraced some of the elements of ecological restoration.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 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

When Barrington was a great estated gentleman with a vast fortune at his command, it cost him wonderfully little thought to contract a loan, or even to sell a farm.

From Barrington Volume II (of II) by Charles James Lever

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

"Likening theyselves to the quality, as though they was estated folk, or the like o' that!" said Mrs. Guffern.

From Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope

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

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

Related Words

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