third estate

American  

noun

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

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of third estate

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

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

From Washington Post • May 10, 2022

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

From Time • Aug. 26, 2015

And in this they lagged behind their contemporary theorists of the bourgeoisie, who understood very well the historical significance at any rate of the struggle of the third estate against the nobles.

From Anarchism and Socialism by Plekhanov, Georgii Valentinovich

This usurpation of power on the part of the third estate transformed the old feudal Estates, voting by orders, into the first modern national representative assembly on the continent of Europe.

From An Introduction to the History of Western Europe by Robinson, James Harvey

Having kept his second estate, and filled the measure of his responsibilities in the flesh, he passes the veil of death, and enters a third estate, or probationary sphere.

From Key to the Science of Theology by Pratt, Parley P.