PEASANTRY Synonyms: 47 Similar and Opposite Words

peasantry

noun

Definition of peasantry

as in commoners

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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 peasantry The French peasantry has been and still is at risk of being disenfranchised by the very structures claiming to support their prosperity, often at the cost of both their health and land. — Made By History, Time, 25 Apr. 2025 For their part, the European peasantry grew wary of the Christian leaders who seemed to have abandoned them. — Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025 By the late third century, most emperors and many of their top officials rose from the rural peasantry through the ranks of the army. — Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made By History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024 But the network structures of Colonial America and ancien régime France were profoundly different (for example, the former lacked a large, illiterate peasantry). — Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 15 Aug. 2017 See All Example Sentences for peasantry

Recent Examples of Synonyms for peasantry

Noun

All that loot pumped out of the Armenian proletariat, says the gaur, and for what.

— Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Severin, on the other hand, represents the revolutionary proletariat.

— JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025

Definition of proletariat

Noun

In some cases, preexisting latifundia were modernized and adapted to the needs of export commodity production, frequently on the basis of outright slavery or any number of coercive arrangements like debt peonage and sharecropping.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
Many Black Americans fled this violent system of peonage and terror in the Great Migration, moving to cities such as Gary and Pittsburgh for a better life.

— John E. Jackson Sr, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026

Definition of peonage

Noun

Wilde stars with and directs a stellar trio — Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton — in an anxiety-inducing drama of a dinner party between a pair of extremely differing yet similarly bourgeoisie couples.

— Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 23 Oct. 2026
When the arcade first opened, Europe was navigating industrialization, the rise of the urban bourgeoisie, and the emergence of modern ready-to-wear fashion.

— Eleonora Giordani, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of bourgeoisie

Noun

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank and file officers and is backing Bass, has been a long-standing host of a memorial golf tournament named after Gates, who died in 2010.

— Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2026
Yet congressional leadership has continually blocked legislation that would fund chip EBT cards nationally, despite universal support for the measure among Democrats and significant support among the Republican rank and file.

— Eli Hager, ProPublica, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of rank and file

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peasant

peasantry

peasants

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“Peasantry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peasantry. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of peasantry

noun

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