fourth estate

noun, often capitalized F&E

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

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

In other words, native ads are a critical support line to the fourth estate.

— justin choi, Philly.com, "Hey Mark Zuckerberg: A software CEO describes how Facebook can fix its ugly ad problem," 10 Apr. 2018
The Post brings a historical perspective, a reminder of the importance of the fourth estate by demonstrating its objective necessity in our society.

— Esquire, "And the Best Picture Should Be...," 23 Feb. 2018
And he's never expressed some deeply held reverence for the fourth estate's role in our democracy.

— sam stecklow, Chicago Reader, "How many more journalistic institutions can Michael Ferro imperil?," 21 Dec. 2017
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.

— thomas doherty, Slate Magazine, "When Fascist Heroes Took Over the Movies," 30 Mar. 2017
The extreme rhetoric is not confined to the fourth estate.

— james freeman, WSJ, "A Democrat’s Warning," 16 Oct. 2017
In pushing boundaries and testing them, Trump has really revitalized the fourth estate.

— gregory cowles, New York Times, "Thanks, Trump! Katy Tur Sees a Renaissance in Journalism," 22 Sep. 2017
In configuring itself around loci of legislative authority, the fourth estate follows certain rules.

— katy waldman, Slate Magazine, "The surreal spectacle of Capitol Hill reporters pressing senators for useless information.," 29 June 2017

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.