How to Use the downtrodden in a Sentence

the downtrodden

noun
  • Hunt down rare beasts and solve ancient mysteries to grant the wishes of the downtrodden and restore the kingdom’s hope.
    — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The good are getting richer off the ineptitude of the downtrodden.
    — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2026
  • Ai Weiwei’s work frequently champions free speech, gives a voice to the downtrodden.
    — Leslie Katz, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Wall Street viewed the purchase as an upbeat sign for the downtrodden sector, lifting shares of Palo Alto 5%.
    — Samantha Subin, CNBC, 30 Mar. 2026
  • In the span of three short weeks, a rookie quarterback and a rookie running back have revitalized the downtrodden Big Blue with sheer frat-bro energy.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Trump and Xi are visiting misfortune upon the downtrodden, expect all of their policies to be defended by vocal loyalists, and play fast and loose with economic data.
    — Vincent Ni, NPR, 20 Sep. 2025
  • In his public appearances over the past decade, Jackson focused on his longstanding message of building a multiracial coalition to champion the downtrodden.
    — Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 17 Feb. 2026
  • That intrusion aligns with a murder, and of course, the newcomer is the group’s first suspect — until Blanc comes to the rescue, always willing to defend the downtrodden, forgotten, and ignored.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 12 Dec. 2025
  • Created by Horne, who plays the downtrodden assistant character on the show, Taskmaster has run on British TV for over 10 years.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The once-compassionate Democratic Party used to mobilize government for the downtrodden and check crony capitalism’s greed.
    — Torrey Snow, Baltimore Sun, 4 Feb. 2026
  • Luke Thompson returns as the second-oldest Bridgerton son, Benedict, while Yerin Ha joins the cast as the downtrodden Sophie Baek.
    — Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Mitevska does conform though to the popular imagination of the extreme devotion exhibited by Saint Teresa towards the downtrodden.
    — Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 27 Aug. 2025
  • And 2010’s Sunflower Seeds, composed of millions of porcelain pieces that viewers walked over, represented the downtrodden Chinese people.
    — Air Mail, 14 Mar. 2026
  • Meghan Andrews’ Beggar Woman and Austyn Myers’ Tobias, giving voice to the downtrodden Dickensian masses, infuse the production with the charm of their singing.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Now a protector of animals and a champion of the downtrodden, Sonja runs afoul of the tyrant Draygan (Robert Sheehan) and ends up enslaved alongside other gladiators for sport, ultimately leading a revolt alongside her new compatriots.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2025
  • This is an incident that genuinely occurred in 1977, but its atmosphere of capitalist disillusionment, of the downtrodden violently rising against the smug and the wealthy, immediately seizes the contemporary imagination.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2025
  • In addition to Longo, Pope Leo elevated six other men and women to sainthood, including an Armenian archbishop tortured and killed after refusing to renounce Catholicism, a Venezuelan physician who dedicated his service to the poor and several nuns who spent decades helping the downtrodden.
    — Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 30 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the downtrodden.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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