déclassé

adjective

Definition of déclassénext
as in downscale

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of déclassé Very few seem to remember, or care, how declasse that phrase was once considered. — Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025 As prevalent as garlic is in American cooking today, for much of the 20th century it was considered an exotic, even declasse, ingredient. — Clay Risen, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Dec. 2022 In China, Pabst beer, which is cheap and declasse stateside, is reformulated as Blue Ribbon 1844 and sells for roughly $50 a bottle. — Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for déclassé
  1. downscale
  2. down-market
  3. plain
  4. bourgeois
  5. working-class
Adjective
  • The corner is the site of the Capitol Square shopping center — tenants include Ross, Marshalls and Cardenas market — and a more downscale mall across the street with Grocery Outlet, Dollar Tree and a space that used to house a Fallas Discount Store.
    — Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 21 May 2026
  • In maybe the funniest scene in the episode, Duncan’s wife Lili has assembled an entire college-enrollment team around Jamie to chart her path to Stanford, which isn’t looking good with a sub-1300 SAT score that isn’t even good enough for such downscale institutions as Duke or Carnegie Mellon.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 Apr. 2026
Definition of downscale
Adjective
  • For brand strategists, that points to a bifurcated market where prestige equity still commands a premium but messaging around resourcefulness and value is no longer a down-market cue.
    — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Civello also observed that Denton has the opinion that the decisions made years ago to expand the brand down-market with more price points below $100 appear misguided, and that Nike now is looking at rolling some of that back.
    — Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of down-market
Adjective
  • On the fall 2026 runways, romantic clothes arrived styled like everything else in your closet—a lace skirt with a cotton shirt, a gown with a combat boot, a ruffled collar over plain velvet trousers—and the shift is visible on the street too.
    — Laurence Goldberg, Vogue, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Refrigerated tortellini is one of the fastest ways to turn plain broth into a satiating, delicious meal.
    — Danielle Bouchard, Martha Stewart, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of plain
Adjective
  • Doctrinaire critics accused her of being bourgeois, formalist, decadent.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Its formless body accommodated slouching, lounging or lying down, selling freedom from both conventional posture and the bourgeois living room.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of bourgeois
Adjective
  • Its founders, Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey, met while studying animation at Ballyfermot College, a vocational school in a working-class Dublin suburb.
    — Stacy Perman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
  • But, ultimately, Brown lost because many working-class voters had moved on from the Democrats.
    — Dan Kaufman, New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of working-class

Browse Nearby Words

declaring
déclassé
declension
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Déclassé.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/d%C3%A9class%C3%A9. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wraith

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All