precariat

American  

[pri-kair-ee-uht] / prɪˈkɛər i ət /

noun

1. the class of people whose income is so irregular or insecure as to adversely affect both their material and psychological well-being.

   Once a corporate executive, now a struggling freelancer, he was wholly unprepared to join the precariat.

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Etymology

Origin of precariat

First recorded in 1955–60; blend of precar(ious) ( def. ) and (proletar)iat ( def. ); see salariat ( def. )

Example Sentences

It may be an apt description of the millennials who entered a bankrupt West and were forced into a precariat existence.

From Salon • Nov. 30, 2019

Superstar cities, he argues, are the preserve of an inner-city elite, whose everyday needs are catered for by a low-paid precariat, living on the peripheries of the urban sprawl.

From The Guardian • Nov. 10, 2019

Antwacky, apoliticism, Beemer, beerfest, energy vampire, energy-dense, fictionality, GERD, hip-hoppy, hip-pop, imposter syndrome, Jumbotron, precariat, self fashioning, script doctor, teenagery, untogetherness, walkative, whataboutism, yessir and zeitgeisty.

From Washington Times • Jun. 21, 2018

Since then, however, they have slipped socioeconomically, along with the middle class itself, into the vast gray area of the modern precariat — home to casino workers, distribution-warehouse pickers, Uber drivers, students at for-profit colleges.

From New York Times • May 23, 2017

Millennials make up a large part of what development economist Guy Standing calls the precariat: a class “characterized by chronic uncertainty and insecurity.”

From Slate • Feb. 19, 2016