ANCIEN REGIME • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Ancien regime

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noun

Regime n.

Mode or system of rule or management; character of government, or of the prevailing social system. "I dream... of the new régime which is to come."

(Hydraul.) The condition of a river with respect to the rate of its flow, as measured by the volume of water passing different cross sections in a given time, uniform régime being the condition when the flow is equal and uniform at all the cross sections.

The ancient regime, or Ancien regime, the former political and social system, as distinguished from the modern; especially, the political and social system existing in France before the Revolution of 1789.

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Etymology of 'Ancien regime'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ancien regime" Quotes from Famous Books

... it de firs' go off, I know very strange it seem For fader of us dey was offen die for flag of L'Ancien Regime, From day w'en de voyageurs come out all de way from ole St. Malo, Flyin' dat flag from de mas' above, an' long affer ...

— The Habitant and Other French-Canadian Poems • William Henry Drummond

... great principle must be kept steadily in mind. All men will better endure the total withholding of all their rights than a system which concedes half and keeps back the other half. This has been admirably elucidated by De Tocqueville in his "Ancien Regime," in showing that the very prosperity of the reign of Louis XVI. prepared the way for its overthrow. "The French found their position the more insupportable, the better it became.... It often happens that a people which has endured the most oppressive laws without complaint, and as if it did not ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 • Various