Word.ws English Dictionary

States General

UK/steɪts ˈdʒɛn(ə)ɹəl/

States General proper noun: a representative assembly in the Habsburg Netherlands (until 1581) and subsequently in the Dutch Republic (until 1795), representing the three estates of clergy, nobles and commons.

Proper noun

States General

  1. (historical) A representative assembly in the Habsburg Netherlands (until 1581) and subsequently in the Dutch Republic (until 1795), representing the three estates of clergy, nobles and commons.
    • It ſhall be Lawful for his Royal Majeſty of Great-Britain, and the States-General, by common Advice, and for the Benefit and Enlargement of the Navigation and Commerce of their Subjects, to ſeize by their Forces, what Lands and Cities they can, belonging to the Spaniſh Dominions in the Indies; (…).1712, Francis Hare, The Treaty Between Her Majesty and the States-General for Securing the Succession to the Crown of Great-Britain, and for Settling the Barrier for the States-General Against...
    • Had the States General, early after the discovery by Hudson, directed their attention to this western field […] a basis would have been laid securing probably a long and prosperous continuance.1845, Thomas De Witt, “Sketches of New Netherland”, in Proceedings of the New York Historical Society for the Year 1844, page 57
  2. (historical) A similar assembly in prerevolutionary France, occasionally convened by the King as a consultive body; it was first convened in 1392 and last in 1789, when its dissolution led to the Revolution.
    • In 1789, with bankruptcy staring the government in the face, Louis XVI took the momentous decision to summon the States-General.1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 18
  3. The bicameral parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1815 onwards.

Examples of States General in a sentence

  • Sovereignty, it was affirmed, lay with the States General, whose bidding the Stadholder was to do as once he had done the king’s.1988, Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches: an Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, Berkeley: University of California...
  • J[ohn] A[dams] was fully aware that the States General would not accept a memorial from the minister of a nation as yet unrecognized, but he nevertheless went through the motions of presenting it.2003, “Memorial to the States General, 19 April 1781”, in Gregg L. Lint, Richard Alan Ryerson, Anne Decker Cecere, Celeste Walker, Jennifer...
  • In practice such letters were received and read by the stadtholder, the States General, or both.2017, Peter Borschberg, “Lost in Translation? The Languages of Euro-Southeast Asian Diplomacy in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth...

Synonyms of States General

  • Estates General

Origin of States General

From states, plural of state + general, after Dutch Staten-Generaal, Middle French etats generaux.

Questions about States General

What does States General mean?
States General means a representative assembly in the Habsburg Netherlands (until 1581) and subsequently in the Dutch Republic (until 1795), representing the three estates of clergy, nobles and commons.
How do you use States General in a sentence?
Sovereignty, it was affirmed, lay with the States General, whose bidding the Stadholder was to do as once he had done the king’s.
What part of speech is States General?
States General is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce States General?
States General is pronounced /steɪts ˈdʒɛn(ə)ɹəl/ (UK).

Words near States General in the dictionary

  1. stater
  2. stateroom
  3. staterooms
  4. staters
  5. states
  6. States General
  7. states of affairs
  8. states of aggregation
  9. states of being
  10. states of emergency
  11. states of exception

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: States General (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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