underclass
Americannoun
noun
Grammar
See collective noun.
Etymology
Origin of underclass
Vocabulary lists containing underclass
Human Geography - Middle School
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Human Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Nearly two decades earlier, Rudy Giuliani campaigned from the other direction, railing against the “squeegee men” underclass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Nevertheless, college students were different from those in America’s underclass.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
