fourth estate

名词 n.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A hypothetical fourth class of civic subjects, or fourth body (in Britain, after the Crown, and the two Houses of Parliament) which governed legislation. obsolete
    — What is more barbarous than to see a nation […] where justice is lawfully denied him, that hath not wherewithall to pay for it; and that this merchandize hath so great credit, that in a politicall government there should be set up a fourth estate [tr. quatriesme estat] of Lawyers, breathsellers and pettifoggers […]
  2. Journalism or journalists considered as a group; the press. idiomatic
    — “Of what profession is Mr. Archer?” “Of the Corporation of the Goosequill—of the Press, my boy,” said Warrington; “of the fourth estate.”

词源

The three (in England) estates were originally the three classes of people who could participate in government, either directly or by electing representatives – originally the clergy, barons/knights, and the commons (though they changed over time). Later the "three estates" were misunderstood as being the three governmental powers necessary for legislation: the Crown, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons; from there, the idea of a "fourth estate" was often used in satirical or jocular expressions, before developing a fixed association with the Press.
In the modern sense often attributed to Edmund Burke (1787), popularized by essayist William Hazlitt in the 19th century.
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