working class 1 of 2

noun

Definition of working classnext
as in middle class
the class of people who earn money by doing usually physical work and who are not rich or powerful

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working-class

2 of 2

adjective

as in middle-class

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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 working class
Noun
The mayor is banking on his popularity with working class New Yorkers and his antipathy towards Israel to put his candidates over the top. — Marcia Kramer, CBS News, 19 June 2026 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
Adjective
Was came from a working-class industrial city, making music reflective of Detroit’s technological upheaval and economic neglect. — Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2026 Forever, whose first season won a Peabody Award and was, according to Netflix, viewed nearly 20 million times in its two months on the platform, introduces a privileged Black boy who falls for a working-class girl. — Judy Berman, Time, 29 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for working class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for working class
  1. middle class
  2. middle-class
  3. bourgeoisie
  4. bourgeois
  5. poor
  6. plain
Noun
  • The American Century has been inherited by the Asian middle class.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 30 June 2026
  • Platner has staked out a populist message and centered his campaign on the middle class.
    — Joey Garrison, USA Today, 29 June 2026
Definition of middle class
Adjective
  • Moreover, more students from middle-class backgrounds use vouchers.
    — Kendall Deas, The Conversation, 6 July 2026
  • McGinley grew up in a middle-class Irish Catholic family in northern New Jersey, as the youngest of eight children.
    — Chris Wiley, New Yorker, 4 July 2026
Definition of middle-class
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
  • 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
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
Adjective
  • With head coach Thomas Tuchel also renowned for his plain speaking, many are seeing this approach as a potential factor in England ending their long wait for a follow-up success to their triumph in the competition in 1966.
    — Roger Trapp, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • For a place of worship the temple was plain, with a long hallway of overlapping purple carpet and idols carved crudely from blush-colored marble.
    — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 30 June 2026
Definition of plain

Browse Nearby Words

working (at or on)
working class
working-class
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Cite this Entry

“Working class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/working%20class. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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