States General
1
9.9
- noun
- Archaic
:
Estados Generales
- In 1581, the States General declared independence from Spain, marking a significant moment in Dutch history.
Examples
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Both men were involved in peace negotiations at The Hague, Aarschot as representative of the States General, Rubens as an unofficial observer and negotiator for the archduchess.
Academic text (1996) -
In that year, he was ordered by the States General to embalm the body of the English vice-admiral William Berkeley, who had been killed in a recent engagement of the fleet.
Academic text (1996) -
The city governments of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Maastricht also wrote letters for this goal, as did the provincial States of Holland, Zeeland, and Gelderland, and finally the States General and the Stadholder-King William III.
Academic text (2010) -
These describe the richness of the colony, comment on Native society, and present his views on government problems in the West India Company's administration of New Netherland that he thought required intervention from the States General (the United Provinces' representative precursor to the Dutch national parliament).
Academic text (2010) -
Moreover, King James pressured the States General to convene a so-called National Synod to settle the disputes between the Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants, settling them in favor of the Contra-Remonstrants.
Academic text (2010) -
The States General of the Dutch Republic played a crucial role in shaping the country's laws and governance.
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During the Golden Age, the States General was the key legislative body that represented the interests of the various provinces.
Synonyms
4
4.9
A group of representatives who make and change laws for a state or organization
Surface Forms
Morphology
state + General
This is a historical proper name for a legislative body (Dutch Staten-Generaal) whose meaning as ‘the representative assembly of the estates’ is specialized and not the obvious result of combining 'state' (nation) and 'general' (broad/common). The word order and usage (postpositive/adjectival 'General' and institutional/historical sense) are unusual and unpredictable for a B1 learner, so knowing the parts would not allow them to derive the assembly meaning.
Etymology
States General gets its name from the simple idea of a big meeting: all the states, the country's 'provinces', came together in one general assembly. That's why the name now means the national assembly or law-making body.