Table of Contents
Definition of Estate
(noun) A segment of a social hierarchy with legal rights and obligations.
Example of Estate
- The estates in France until the French Revolution (1789–1799) were the clergy (First Estate), nobility (Second Estate), and commoners (Third Estate). The estate system is referred to as the Ancien Régime (Old Regime).
Estate Pronunciation
Syllabification: es·tate
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /i-stAYt/
- British English – /i-stAYt/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ɪˈsteɪt/
- British English – /ɪˈsteɪt/
Usage Note
- Plural: estates
Additional Information
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Reference. (http://www.oxfordreference.com/).
Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Estate
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “estate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved February 9, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/estate/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
estate. (2017). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/estate/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “estate.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed February 9, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/estate/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“estate.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2017. Web. 9 Feb. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/estate/>.