"fourth estate" meaning in English

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  "etymology_text": "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.\nIn the modern sense often attributed to Edmund Burke (1787), popularized by essayist William Hazlitt in the 19th century.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "fourth estate",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "51 49",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1 p. 104",
          "text": "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 […]"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hypothetical fourth class of civic subjects, or fourth body (in Britain, after the Crown, and the two Houses of Parliament) which governed legislation."
      ],
      "id": "en-fourth_estate-en-noun-I6rxu0D2",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A hypothetical fourth class of civic subjects, or fourth body (in Britain, after the Crown, and the two Houses of Parliament) which governed legislation."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "91 9",
          "word": "fifth estate"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 9",
          "word": "Fleet Street"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Journalism or journalists considered as a group; the press."
      ],
      "id": "en-fourth_estate-en-noun-A2ipusHp",
      "links": [
        [
          "Journalism",
          "journalism"
        ],
        [
          "journalist",
          "journalist"
        ],
        [
          "press",
          "press"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Journalism or journalists considered as a group; the press."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "četvǎrta vlast",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "четвърта власт"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "dìsìquán",
          "sense": "press",
          "word": "第四权"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "press",
          "word": "neljäs valtiomahti"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "quatrième pouvoir"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "vierte Gewalt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "הרשות הרביעית"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "press",
          "word": "העיתונות"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "czwarta władza"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "četvjórtaja vlastʹ",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "четвёртая власть"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cuarto poder"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "press",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "tredje statsmakten"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "audio": "en-au-fourth estate.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/15/En-au-fourth_estate.ogg/En-au-fourth_estate.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/En-au-fourth_estate.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Edmund Burke",
    "William Hazlitt"
  ],
  "word": "fourth estate"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
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        "2": "estates"
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  "etymology_text": "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.\nIn the modern sense often attributed to Edmund Burke (1787), popularized by essayist William Hazlitt in the 19th century.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "fourth estate",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fifth estate"
    },
    {
      "word": "Fleet Street"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1 p. 104",
          "text": "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 […]"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A hypothetical fourth class of civic subjects, or fourth body (in Britain, after the Crown, and the two Houses of Parliament) which governed legislation."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A hypothetical fourth class of civic subjects, or fourth body (in Britain, after the Crown, and the two Houses of Parliament) which governed legislation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Journalism or journalists considered as a group; the press."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Journalism",
          "journalism"
        ],
        [
          "journalist",
          "journalist"
        ],
        [
          "press",
          "press"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Journalism or journalists considered as a group; the press."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "audio": "en-au-fourth estate.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/En-au-fourth_estate.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "četvǎrta vlast",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "четвърта власт"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "dìsìquán",
      "sense": "press",
      "word": "第四权"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "press",
      "word": "neljäs valtiomahti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "quatrième pouvoir"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "vierte Gewalt"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "הרשות הרביעית"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "press",
      "word": "העיתונות"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "czwarta władza"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "četvjórtaja vlastʹ",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "четвёртая власть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cuarto poder"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "press",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "tredje statsmakten"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Edmund Burke",
    "William Hazlitt"
  ],
  "word": "fourth estate"
}