underclass

American  

[uhn-der-klas, -klahs] / ˈʌn dərˌklæs, -ˌklɑs /

noun

1. a social stratum consisting of impoverished persons with very low social status.

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underclass British  

/ ˈʌndəˌklɑːs /

noun

1. a class beneath the usual social scale consisting of the most disadvantaged people, such as the unemployed in inner cities

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Grammar

See collective noun.

Etymology

Origin of underclass

First recorded in 1915–20; under- + class

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

underclass

The difference is that he’s describing the U.K.’s white underclass.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

She is best known for the Noughts & Crosses series, which explores the divide between a black elite and a white underclass in a dystopian London.

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

Still, workers clearly have some time before AI relegates them to the permanent underclass.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

“Call you outcast, low down, you can’t make it, you’re nothing, you’re from nobody, subclass, underclass; when you see Jesse Jackson, when my name goes in nomination, your name goes in nomination.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026

The Threepenny Opera was a kind of Trainspotting for the late 1920s, presenting the middle classes with a grimy, warts-and-all vision of the alienated, nihilistic underclass.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

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