proletarian
Americanadjective
-
pertaining or belonging to the proletariat.
-
(in ancient Rome) belonging to the lowest or poorest class of the people.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of proletarian
Explanation
Working class, blue collar, plebeian and certainly not aristocratic — that's what the adjective proletarian means. Proletarian has roots in the Latin word proles, which means "offspring." That's because back in ancient Rome, a proletarian was a member of the proletariat, the class of society that had no wealth and didn't own property. The only thing these proletarians had to offer was their hard work and their children. Today's proletarians are a little better off; they're considered the working class and just might have better benefits through their unions than some white-collar workers out there.
Vocabulary lists containing proletarian
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Power Suffix: -arian
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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.
In 1932, they were both dissolved, and the Russian Association of Proletarian Musician’s aesthetic values formed the basis for the Union of Soviet Composers.
From New York Times • May 13, 2022
The 10-year “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” begun in 1966 was meant by Mao Zedong to purge capitalist elements from within the Communist Party.
From Washington Times • Sep. 7, 2021
Students took to calling the course “the Great Proletarian Cultural Locomotive.”
From Slate • Sep. 21, 2018
Former Red Guard blogs horror In 1966, 13-year-old Yu Xiangzhen was a “little general” of Mao Zedong – one of thousands of teenagers recruited to promote his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
From The Guardian • May 9, 2016
There is the interesting story of the Class Conscious Proletarian of All Lands, the chap who has "solidarity," and is always just going to abolish war.
From Eugenics and Other Evils by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
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.
