ancien régime

American  

[ahn-syan ray-zheem] / ɑ̃ sjɛ̃ reɪˈʒim /

noun

French.

• anciens régimes
  plural

1. the political and social system of France before the revolution of 1789.

2. the system of government during this period.

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ancien régime British  

/ ɑ̃sjɛ̃ reʒim /

noun

1. the political and social system of France before the Revolution of 1789

2. a former or outdated regime

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ancien régime Cultural  

1. The political and social order that prevailed in France before the French Revolution, built on a belief in absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anciens régimes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ancien régime

First recorded in 1790–95; from French; literally, “old rule”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ancien régime

The crowd that stormed the Bastille in 1789 did so because the prison-fortress symbolized the ancien régime.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

This wasn’t quite the little white empire-line muslin dress familiar from Jane Austen costume dramas, but it was heading that way from the exoskeleton corsetry of the ancien régime.

From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2025

It was a building that was all crisp Modernism on the outside, buttery ancien régime within.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2019

You see, Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel of nasty musical beds in ancien régime France takes place amid a thin, rarefied air that is as much perfume as oxygen.

From New York Times ● Oct. 30, 2016

They spent a couple of days in looking for the antiquities of Montreal, trying to find the romantic atmosphere of New France under the ancien régime.

From Days Off And Other Digressions by Henry Van Dyke

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