third estate

American  

noun

1. the third of the three estates or political orders: the commons in France or England.

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third estate British  

noun

1. the third order or class in a country or society divided into estates, esp for representation in a parliament; the commons, townsmen, or middle class

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Etymology

Origin of third estate

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

Deputies of the third estate—representing the commoners—declared themselves a National Assembly in June 1789, changing their role from recommending measures to representing the nation.

From The Wall Street Journal

And now the fencing has come to the Supreme Court, to the third estate.

From Washington Post

The term had a special resonance with his Francophone audience because it recalled the third estate, “tiers-état,” of the French Revolution.

From Time

Has the King ordered us, too, to sit with the third estate?

From Project Gutenberg

The Revolution was the victory of the third estate, i.e., of the great masses of the nation, working in production and in trade, over the privileged idle classes, the nobles and the priests.

From Project Gutenberg