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fifth estate

American  

noun

  1. any class or group in society other than the nobility, the clergy, the middle class, and the press.

Etymology

Origin of fifth estate

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"It is a fifth estate alongside the other power structures in our society."

From Salon • Oct. 17, 2019

“I don’t know if they’ll ever be accepted as the fifth estate, or something like that,” Wysopal said.

From Newsweek • Apr. 17, 2013

They have become a kind of fifth estate, half educators and half national policymakers.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.