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• lower class
  lower class

  noun

  a class of people below the middle class, having the lowest social rank or standing due to low income, lack of skills or education, and the like.
• lower-class
  lower-class

  adjective

  of, relating to, or characteristic of the lower class.

lower class

¹ American  

[loh-er] / ˈloʊ ər /

noun

• lower classes
  plural

1. a class of people below the middle class, having the lowest social rank or standing due to low income, lack of skills or education, and the like.

2. (broadly) working class.

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lower-class ² American  

[loh-er-klas, -klahs] / ˈloʊ ərˈklæs, -ˈklɑs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the lower class.

   lower-class values.

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lower class British  

noun

1. the social stratum having the lowest position in the social hierarchy Compare middle class upper class working class

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adjective

1. of or relating to the lower class

2. inferior or vulgar

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lower classes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of lower class¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Origin of lower-class²

First recorded in 1890–95

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lower class lower-class

Much smaller shares, in the single digits, placed themselves at the far ends of the class spectrum, as upper class or lower class.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

"Do you want to make savings from falling pupil numbers, or do you want to maintain spending the way it is, and have lower class sizes?"

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

"Before then, Americans were typically more likely to self-identify as members of the middle or upper-middle class and less likely to say they belonged to the working or lower class."

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2024

Instead, she and two of her sisters each moved to Mexico City to do one of the few jobs available to them as lower class women: domestic work.

From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024

Very few respondents called themselves lower class or upper class—7 percent and 1 percent.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Based on the beloved novels of Elena Ferrante, “My Brilliant Friend” tells the story of two pals growing up in a lower-class neighborhood in post-World War II Naples.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

They are particularly alarmed about certain groups possibly ending up paying more for loans than their peers — a daunting prospect today given the cost of living crisis among the nation’s middle- and lower-class.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 17, 2025

As a result of this, it has both suffered being characterized as a lower-class indulgence, while also being celebrated for its flavor and pop culture ubiquity.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2024

The empire was organized around several urbanized centers with monumental architecture including grand royal palaces, as well as lower-class homes made from stone or mud with thatched roofs.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

But the academic is brought closer to lower-class culture because of his very distance from it.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

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Related Words

• proletariat
• working class

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