French aristocrat
Pre-revolution elite member
A French aristocrat is a member of the hereditary noble class of France—historically titled families holding ranks like duke, marquis, count, or baron.
The term often evokes pre-Revolutionary France, when the aristocracy held vast estates and political power until 1789.
Today it may describe descendants of those families or, loosely, anyone embodying refined French elegance and hauteur: He carried himself like a French aristocrat.
- Ancien RégimePre-1789 French system
- dukeHighest-ranking nobleman
- laceOpen-weave ornamental fabric
- Estates-GeneralFrench representative body, three classes
- chateauFrench country mansion
patronage · silk · powder · powder room · monarchy · Marie Antoinette · marquis · salons · court intrigue · viscount · chevalier · diplomacy · noblesse oblige · hunting party · carriage ride · fan · heraldry · peerage
French aristocratserf
Bonded agricultural laborer
sans-culotte · pauper · servant · tenant farmer · the masses
French aristocratrevolutionary
Seeking fundamental systemic change
Jacobin · sans-culotte · Robespierre · Marat · émigré
French, Frenchman, Frenchwoman, Frenchness, aristocrat, aristocrats, aristocracy, aristocratic, aristocratically