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Estates-General

 
Dictionary: Es·tates-Gen·er·al   (ĭ-stāts'jĕn'ər-əl)
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pl.n.
See States-General (sense 2).

[Translation of French états généraux.]


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Estates General
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In pre-Revolutionary France, the representative assembly of the three "estates" or orders of the realm: the clergy and the nobility (both privileged minorities) as well as the Third Estate, which represented the majority of the people. Usually summoned by monarchs in times of crisis, the Estates General met at irregular intervals from the 14th century on; it was of limited effectiveness because the monarchy usually dealt with local Estates instead. The last meeting of the Estates General was at the start of the French Revolution in 1789, when the deputies of the Third Estate led in founding the National Assembly.

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Political Dictionary: estates general
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states general

estates general, states generalAlternative translations of the French États Généraux, the body whose summons by Louis XVI 1789 (for the first time since 1614) is usually held to mark the outbreak of the French Revolution. Each ‘estate’ of the realm, namely, the nobility, the clergy, and the commons, was represented separately. However, the Estates voted to unite and turned themselves into the National Assembly.

WordNet: Estates General
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: assembly of the estates of all France; last meeting in 1789

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Political Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more