peasantry

[ pez-uhn-tree ]

noun

1. peasants collectively.
2. the status or character of a peasant.

peasantry

/ ˈpɛzəntrɪ /

noun

1. peasants as a class
2. conduct characteristic of peasants
3. the status of a peasant

Word History and Origins

Origin of peasantry¹

First recorded in 1545–55; peasant + -ry

Example Sentences

Born two years before Mao Zedong’s Communist Revolution, Jin Liqun was “sent down” by the party to help rural peasantry as a young man, and spent his teens farming paddy rice, wheat and cotton in the sunbaked countryside.

From Time

One problem - the residents of Stoke Climsland are no longer humble peasantry prepared to take this kind of nonsense lying down.

From The Daily Beast

There can be no permanent disfranchised peasantry in the United States.

From The Daily Beast

The Irish Peasantry are idle, the English say truly enough; but who inquires whether there is any work within their reach?

From Project Gutenberg

But it was not only among the peasantry that this belief in the extreme antiquity of tobacco pipes existed.

From Project Gutenberg

She was delighted with these indications of gratitude and sensibility on the part of the unenlightened and lowly peasantry.

From Project Gutenberg

The miserable ignorance of the peasantry is a disgrace to the landed gentry, and loudly calls for reform.

From Project Gutenberg

It is said to be not unusual, for the peasantry of Liverpool, to speak of Mr. Bell, as a benefactor of the emigrant domestics.

From Project Gutenberg