ancient regime
Pre-revolutionary French government
Ancient regime (or ancien régime, the French spelling) refers to the political and social system of France before the Revolution of 1789—the monarchy, aristocracy, and feudal privileges that were swept away.
More broadly, any old order that has been or should be replaced: The reforms dismantled the ancient regime of patronage and corruption.
- Estates-GeneralFrench representative body, three classes
- VersaillesFrench royal palace complex
- royal courtMonarch's official household
- Sun KingEpithet for absolute monarch
- court intriguePolitical scheming at royal halls
royalty · monarchy · absolutism · aristocracy · divine right · pre-revolutionary · nobility · bread riots · empire · ancien régime · hereditary privilege · absolute monarchy · serfdom · class distinctions · feudalism · hereditary rule · social hierarchy · guilds
ancient regimedemocratic republic
Government by elected officials
republic · democracy · constitutional government · popular sovereignty · modern democracy
ancient regimeclassless society
System without social strata
meritocracy · bourgeois society · democratic society · egalitarianism · egalitarian society
ancient, regime, anciently, ancientness, regimen, regiment, regimental, regimentally, regimented