Category:Tiers etat

Tiers` é`tat". Etym: [f.]

Defn: the third estate, or commonalty, in france, answering to the Commons in great britain; -- so called in distinction from, and as Inferior to, the nobles and clergy.

Note: the refusal of the clergy and nobility to give the tiers état a Representation in the states-general proportioned to their actual Numbers had an important influence in bringing on the french Revolution of 1789. Since that time the term has been purely Historical.