régime

CIDE DICTIONARY

régime, n. [F. See Regimen.].

•  Mode or system of rule or management; character of government, or of the prevailing social system.  [1913 Webster]

  "I dream . . . of the new régime which is to come."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

The ancient régime, or Ancien régime [F.], 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.