first estate

9.9

Church leaders who had special social and political power before the French Revolution

noun

Archaic

: primer estado

Many conflicts arose between the first estate and the commoners leading up to the French Revolution.

Examples

During the Ancien Régime, the first estate held immense political and social power in France.
In Britain, the first estate includes senior members of the established church.
The first estate held significant power in pre-revolutionary France.
Many people criticized the first estate for its privileges.
During the Ancien Régime, the first estate held immense political and social power in France.
In Britain, the first estate is made up of senior members of the established church.
Many conflicts arose between the first estate and the commoners leading up to the French Revolution.

Surface Forms

first estate singular

first estates plural

Morphology

first + estate

The compound is partly compositional — 'first' + 'estate' signals the highest-ranked social class — so a learner can infer it refers to an ordered social group. However, identifying that the conventional referent is specifically 'the clergy' in the historical three-estates system requires cultural/historical knowledge and is not directly predictable from the words alone.

Etymology

First estate comes from old European societies that were split into three main groups; the word first meant 'top' and estate meant 'group', and the first estate was the church leaders. That's why first estate came to mean 'the clergy' or the church's powerful members.