Definition of fourth estate
: the public press
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Examples of fourth estate in a Sentence
a member of the Fourth Estate
Recent Examples of fourth estate from the Web
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In other words, native ads are a critical support line to the fourth estate.
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The Post brings a historical perspective, a reminder of the importance of the fourth estate by demonstrating its objective necessity in our society.
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And he's never expressed some deeply held reverence for the fourth estate's role in our democracy.
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At a press conference, a swarthy member of the fourth estate launches into a fiery Bolshevik speech about the unemployed, but Hammond rejects pleas for presidential action.
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The extreme rhetoric is not confined to the fourth estate.
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In pushing boundaries and testing them, Trump has really revitalized the fourth estate.
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In configuring itself around loci of legislative authority, the fourth estate follows certain rules.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fourth estate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
It might be news to you that the term fourth estate has been around for centuries. In Europe, going back to medieval times, the people who participated in the political life of a country were generally divided into three classes or estates. In England they were the three groups with representation in Parliament, namely, the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. Some other group, like the mob or the public press, that had an unofficial but often great influence on public affairs, was called the fourth estate. In the 19th century, fourth estate came to refer exclusively to the press, and now it's applied to all branches of the news media.
First Known Use of fourth estate
1837
FOURTH ESTATE Defined for English Language Learners
fourth estate
Definition of fourth estate for English Language Learners
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: the people and organizations who report the news : journalists as a group
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