proletariat

[ proh-li-tair-ee-uht ]
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noun
  1. Usually the proletariat . in Marxist theory, the class made up of workers, especially industrial wage earners, who do not possess capital or property and must sell their labor to those who do in order to survive: The call of the proletariat is to overthrow the capitalist mode of production and finally abolish the whole class structure.A dictatorship of the proletariat is the first stage of the revolution.

  2. Usually the proletariat . the class made up of wage earners, especially unskilled or semiskilled workers who earn their living by manual labor, often dependent on daily or casual employment and typically having low levels of education and disposable income; the working class.

  1. the lowest or poorest class of people, possessing no property, especially in ancient Rome.

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Origin of proletariat

1
First recorded in 1850–55; from French prolétariat; equivalent to proletary + -ate3

Other words from proletariat

  • pro·le·tar·i·an, adjective, noun
  • non·pro·le·tar·i·at, noun

Words Nearby proletariat

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How to use proletariat in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for proletariat

proletariat

/ (ˌprəʊlɪˈtɛərɪət) /


noun
  1. all wage-earners collectively

  2. the lower or working class

  1. (in Marxist theory) the class of wage-earners, esp industrial workers, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labour

  2. (in ancient Rome) the lowest class of citizens, who had no property

Origin of proletariat

1
C19: via French from Latin prōlētārius proletarian

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for proletariat (1 of 2)

proletariat

[ (proh-luh-tair-ee-uht) ]


In Marxism, the industrial working class, people without property.

proletariat

[ (proh-luh-tair-ee-uht) ]


A term often applied to industrial workers, particularly by followers of Karl Marx (see also Marx).

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.