DictionaryAI

estate

i-STAYT/ɪˈsteɪt/

Pluralestates

14 meanings of estate

Practice

  1. 1
    all you ownnouncountable
    The total property, money, and debts belonging to someone, especially what a person leaves behind at death.

    The lawyer spent months settling the estate before the heirs received anything.

    Her estate included two houses, a savings account, and several unpaid loans.

    Similarproperty, assets, fortune, inheritance

  2. 2
    large private landnouncountable
    A large, often extensive area of land held under a single ownership.

    The duke's estate stretches across thousands of acres of farmland and forest.

    Visitors can tour the historic estate and walk its formal gardens.

    Similarproperty, lands, grounds, domain, manor

  3. 3
    land ownershipnouncountable
    The kind and degree of a person's legal interest in, or ownership of, land.

    Under the deed, she held a life estate in the farm, which passed to her son when she died.

    She holds only a leasehold estate, not full ownership of the land.

    Similarinterest, tenure

    Note

    In land law the word names the interest in land rather than the land itself: what you hold, and for how long. Lawyers sort estates by duration, such as a fee simple, a life estate or a leasehold, so two people can hold different estates in the same field. Keep it distinct from the landed sense, where estate is the ground itself.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • In land law, an estate is an interest in land rather than the land itself. eui.eu
    • Estates are classified by duration, including fee simple, life estate and leasehold. alri.ualberta.ca
    • Different people can hold different estates in the same land. eui.eu
    • The legal sense differs from estate meaning an area of land. en.wikipedia.org
  4. 4
    housing developmentnounUKcountable
    A residential development of houses or apartments built as a unit, often used disparagingly to imply a deprived or troubled neighborhood.

    The estate had a rough reputation, though most residents kept to themselves.

    Politicians rarely visited the estate except at election time.

    UsagePeople live on an estate: she grew up on the estate.

    Similardevelopment, project, scheme

    Note

    Short for housing estate, and in British English a word with a reputation. Loretta Lees of King's College London, quoted by the BBC in 2012, called it a 'dirty word' now close to 'ghetto'. She noted that in the 1920s and '30s it did not carry the same stigma. The derogatory edge is occasional rather than built in, but where neutrality matters, housing estate or development is safer.

  5. 5
    social classnounhistoricalcountable
    A major social class or order (such as the clergy, nobility, or commoners) regarded as part of a country's body politic and once holding distinct political rights.

    Each estate sent its own representatives to the assembly.

    The three estates of feudal lords, clergy and royal officers met in separate chambers, and exercised an advisory role.
    2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms

    UsageOften numbered: the first estate, the third estate.

    Similarorder, class

    Note

    A word for history rather than current politics. It is often plural and capitalized when it names the assembly itself. In Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety (1992), nobles want 'to use the Estates' to curb the King. Norman Davies's Vanished Kingdoms (2011) lists 'three estates of feudal lords, clergy and royal officers', which is a reminder that the orders were not composed the same way everywhere.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Hilary Mantel wrote A Place of Greater Safety, first published in 1992. en.wikipedia.org
    • The novel contains 'to use the Estates' in a statement about nobles seeking to reduce the King's power. en.wiktionary.org
    • Norman Davies wrote Vanished Kingdoms, first published in 2011. bookpoint.bg
    • Vanished Kingdoms contains the quoted list of three estates. en.wiktionary.org
    • The composition of the estates varied between countries. en.wikipedia.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of estate apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Latin status gave Anglo-Norman and Old French estat (modern French état), which passed into Middle English as estat. State and status are doublets of it.