Definition of fourth estate
: the public press
- Trending Now: More Trending:
- hogwash probity sequacious inadmissible oligarch, pejorative
- ALL
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
fourth estate was our Word of the Day on 10/02/2012. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of fourth estate in a Sentence
a member of the Fourth Estate
Recent Examples of fourth estate from the Web
-
No one is spared from the poking and prodding of the fourth estate, one of the vital checks of a democracy.
-
There has of late been a melding of two of his favorite targets, the Mueller investigation and the fourth estate, which Donald Trump apparently views as reinforcing each other.
-
That’s all of one minute and five seconds, and that’s how deft and smooth Garbus is in defining the two great forces — Trump and the Times, the executive branch of government and the fourth estate — that will do battle in this series.
-
In other words, native ads are a critical support line to the fourth estate.
-
The Post brings a historical perspective, a reminder of the importance of the fourth estate by demonstrating its objective necessity in our society.
-
And he's never expressed some deeply held reverence for the fourth estate's role in our democracy.
-
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.
-
The extreme rhetoric is not confined to the fourth estate.
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
-
: the people and organizations who report the news : journalists as a group
Learn More about fourth estate
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up fourth estate? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
