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• middle class
  middle class

  noun

  the social, economic, and cultural class of people thought of as having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.
• middle-class
  middle-class

  adjective

  of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois.

middle class

¹ American  

[mid-l klas] / ˈmɪd l ˈklæs /

noun

• middle classes
  plural

1. the social, economic, and cultural class of people thought of as having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.

   Life for the middle class includes going to college, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, and raising kids.

   We intend to put an end to the tax squeeze on the middle class.

2. Sociology. Sometimes middle classes the socioeconomic stratum intermediate between the upper or aristocratic class and the laboring class, made up mostly of business people, professionals, civil servants, and skilled workers, and sometimes further subdivided into the upper middle class and the lower middle class.

   In the 1950s and 1960s in America, an emphasis on education increased upward mobility, and the middle class expanded.

   Self-improvement, a strong work ethic, and modesty were among the core moral values of the German middle classes of the early 20th century.

3. any intermediate class.

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middle-class ² American  

[mid-l-klas, -klahs] / ˈmɪd lˈklæs, -ˈklɑs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois.

   middle-class taste; middle-class morality.

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middle class British  

noun

1. Also called: bourgeoisie. a social stratum that is not clearly defined but is positioned between the lower and upper classes. It consists of businessmen, professional people, etc, along with their families, and is marked by bourgeois values Compare lower class upper class working class

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class

middle class Cultural  

1. A social and economic class composed of those more prosperous than the poor, or lower class, and less wealthy than the upper class. Middle class is sometimes loosely used to refer to the bourgeoisie. In the United States and other industrial countries, the term is often applied to white-collar, as opposed to blue-collar, workers.

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Discover More

Values commonly associated with the middle class include a desire for social respectability and material wealth and an emphasis on the family and education.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• middle-classness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• middle classes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of middle class¹

First recorded in 1760–70

Origin of middle-class²

First recorded in 1890–95

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

middle class middle-class

My research confirms the trend of rising inequality since 1980, driven by the wealthiest pulling away not just from the middle class, but also from the “merely wealthy.”

From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2026

"The middle class," he said, "is looking for someone who will look responsible, boring. I think Eisenkot has that appeal."

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

Today most Mizrahim have moved into the middle class with university educations and professional careers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

Read more: Cars were once a financial engine of America’s middle class.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 22, 2026

We didn’t just think we were part of the middle class, the great engine of America powering us forward; we were part of it.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Learn how the middle-class housing measure works and its key caveats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

The family lived on the edge of a predominantly middle-class area, but de Waal said her childhood was marked by poverty.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

Today, however, that encompasses solidly middle-class, even working-class, households, not the $500,000+ cadre.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

The signs are well short of recessionary levels, but that seems to hinge on middle-class consumers’ net worth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

We had black kids who were newly rich, black kids who were middle-class, and black kids from the townships.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

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