Second Empire

American  

noun

1. the empire established in France (1852–70) by Louis Napoleon: the successor to the Second Republic.

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Second Empire British  

noun

1. 1. the imperial government of France under Napoleon III

   2. the period during which this government functioned (1852–70)

2. the style of furniture and decoration of the Second Empire, reviving the Empire style, but with fussier ornamentation

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Second Empire

A massive mansard roof with dormers, tall windows and paired doors at the above-grade entrance all indicate Second Empire.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 5, 2021

The new look features parquet wooden floors and terra cotta walls that were chosen to resemble the Second Empire style of Napoleon III, who created the gallery to display Etruscan antiquities in the mid-19th century.

From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2021

Paris Commune: the insurrection of Paris against the government in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war, in which France was defeated, and led to the collapse of Napoleon III’s Second Empire.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 8, 2018

The great and controversial French Romantic poet and novelist — “Les Miserables,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Legend of the Ages” — had run afoul of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, dictator of the Second Empire.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2018

Napoleon III. named him senator and prince, but he took hardly any part in politics during the Second Empire, and after the proclamation of the Third Republic in 1870 he withdrew to England.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2 "Bohemia" to "Borgia, Francis" by Various