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

The stunning waterfront estate comes complete with four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and 4,181 square feet of living space.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

West Mercia Police sent speeding tickets to a Grade II listed Herefordshire castle bought by Hammond in 2012 and a £1m farm estate near Hereford, but the letters were returned marked as "addressee gone away".

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

The social-networking company has been aggressively locking up future data-center capacity and has issued several requests for proposals on additional projects related to real estate, energy and other AI infrastructure, the people said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Her estate will be probated, one way or another.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Or that they didn’t care if a loan had been made in a booming real estate market or a quiet one.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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

But unlike pieces of art, there is a big stumbling block to relying on the philanthropy of private estates when it comes to the study of fossils.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

He lives somewhere in the fertile countryside of what would become southern England, near the estates whose rents pay for his lifestyle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

But now there were more and more “free” workers—those who had moved off the estates and lived in their own houses, splitting their time between sugar work and their own businesses.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

"It is upon estated property I intend to raise this loan, sir," said his Lordship, angrily.

From Davenport Dunn, Volume 1 (of 2) A Man Of Our Day by Lever, Charles James

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 Lever, Charles James

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 Catherwood, Mary Hartwell

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

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 Trollope, Anthony

Related Words

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