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

Infantino, who has been a frequent visitor to the Oval Office and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, attended the president’s inauguration and accompanied him on visits around the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

The development, Forest City, is a symbol of China’s real estate bust, defined by overborrowing and overbuilding at home and abroad.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

What real estate and home-buying topics would you like to see covered in MarketWatch?

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026

Having grown up on a council estate in Belfast, Craig moved to Manchester in 2003 at the age of 18 to study politics and modern history at the University of Manchester.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

What Frankie had said about the real estate was true.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

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

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026

It was suggested this would be paid for through a compulsory contribution from people's estates after they'd died.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

While one of the estates has now changed hands, Combs still owns the second of his two Star Island homes.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026

In the past, Burnham has suggested changing inheritance tax to pay for social care reform, external, floating the idea of a 10% levy on all estates.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

This was intended to be the province of the sort of people Joe had seen on the golf course at Princeton or on the manicured lawns of estates he had glimpsed up the Hudson.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

It was all the difference between rank and obscurity—between wealth and want—between the condition of an estated gentleman and the assumption of a mere pretender.

From Roland Cashel Volume II (of II) by Lever, Charles James

Darby: You letting on to be an estated magistrate and my own cousin and such a great generation of a man.

From New Irish Comedies by Gregory, Lady

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 Maine, Henry Sumner, Sir

"I don't exactly see to what extent we should have been liable—whether only the estated property, or also all funded moneys."

From The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly by Lever, Charles James

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