middle-class 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of middle-classnext
as in poor
belonging to the class of people of middle social or economic rank She grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, as did most of her classmates.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

middle class

2 of 2

noun

as in working class

Related Words

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 middle-class
Adjective
The political backlash was immediate, driven by concerns about benefit cuts for middle-class workers and large new federal deficits to finance the transition. — Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Due to postwar prosperity and changes in pool-construction technology, private pools were no longer considered luxuries but within reach of the burgeoning middle-class. — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 3 July 2026
Noun
President Biden promised a less militarized foreign policy, one that worked for the middle class. — Nancy A. Youssef, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026 The American Century has been inherited by the Asian middle class. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 30 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for middle-class
  1. poor
  2. working class
  3. bourgeois
  4. bourgeoisie
  5. simple
  6. working-class
Adjective
  • Overflowing poor drainage areas in urban areas of northwest Hickory and in the Northlakes area of Caldwell County.
    — NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 7 July 2026
  • There was a lot of poor decision-making with this match, on and off the pitch.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026
Definition of poor
Noun
  • Sade’s debut is a pristine work of professional studio craft just like all their subsequent releases, but Diamond Life was made by a working class band that had spent years gigging in the clubs of London.
    — Al Shipley, SPIN, 30 June 2026
  • This is about working class voters, working class, working class.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 June 2026
Definition of working class
Adjective
  • In sharp contrast to the first-generation members of the Frankfurt School, Habermas came from a petit-bourgeois, culturally conservative Protestant milieu, his family name going back to sixteenth-century Thuringian cobblers.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 15 June 2026
  • Their attempts to destroy the bourgeois family were, like the efforts of Suzanna’s mother and grandmother, ambivalent and half-hearted.
    — Julius Taranto, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
Definition of bourgeois
Noun
  • For a long time, the lifestyles and foibles of the modest bourgeoisie were a mainstay of art-house cinema, with urbane, upscale audiences happy to turn out to see versions of their own lives depicted on the screen.
    — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026
  • The town next door, Maplewood, built walls and created one-way streets to direct the flow of traffic coming in and out of Newark and Irvington to protect its fading notion bourgeoisie exclusivity.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 June 2026
Definition of bourgeoisie
Adjective
  • As for the volunteers, the goal is simple—help someone stay safe before the heat turns into an emergency.
    — Marissa Sulek, CBS News, 1 July 2026
  • Evidence for at-home tools is thinner than for professional manual drainage, but the simplest options can offer mild circulation and surface-lymph support at a low price.
    — Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 30 June 2026
Definition of simple
Adjective
  • Salted and preserved fish and meats, including bacon, sausage, liver pudding and offal, were staples of working-class people's diets, while the upper classes indulged in such luxuries as white flour and sugar.
    — Teresa Mull, FOXNews.com, 4 July 2026
  • Was came from a working-class industrial city, making music reflective of Detroit’s technological upheaval and economic neglect.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026
Definition of working-class

Browse Nearby Words

middle-agers
middle-class
middle class
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Middle-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/middle-class. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

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

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

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
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
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All