bourgeois1
[boo r-zhwah, boo r-zhwah; French boor-zhwa]
- a member of the middle class.
- a person whose political, economic, and social opinions are believed to be determined mainly by concern for property values and conventional respectability.
- a shopkeeper or merchant.
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- belonging to, characteristic of, or consisting of the middle class.
- conventional; middle-class.
- dominated or characterized by materialistic pursuits or concerns.
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Origin of bourgeois1
bourgeois2
[ber-jois]
- a size of type approximately 9-point, between brevier and long primer.
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Origin of bourgeois2
First recorded in 1815–25; perhaps from a printer so named
Bourgeois
[boo r-zhwah, boo r-zhwah; French boor-zhwa]
- Lé·on Vic·tor Au·guste [ley-awn veek-tawr oh-gyst] /leɪˈɔ̃ vikˈtɔr oʊˈgyst/, 1851–1925, French statesman: Nobel Peace Prize 1920.
- Louise,1911–2010, U.S. sculptor, born in France.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
materialisticVictorianconservativecommonPhilistineconventionalilliberalmiddle-classtraditionalhideboundold-lineExamples from the Web for bourgeois
Contemporary Examples
Part of that bourgeois dream involved white people getting to live out their fantasies of having black servants.
I Watched a Casino Kill Itself: The Awful Last Nights of Atlantic City’s Taj MahalOlivia Nuzzi
December 8, 2014
Many historians have leveled criticism at the Code, arguing that it was too conservative and supportive of the bourgeois.
Diaspora always meant tragedy; you think you can be a good German bourgeois, but that way lie the death camps.
Jonathan Pollard Means Israeli-American Squabbling Instead of Israeli-Palestinian NegotiationRaphael Magarik
July 26, 2013
I confess to being surprised at the reaction to yesterday's article on the boring, bourgeois future of gay marriage.
That's right, I said it: this is a landmark victory for the forces of staid, bourgeois sexual morality.
Historical Examples
Whereupon the two aristocrats despised the bourgeois Regnier.
Camps, Quarters and Casual PlacesArchibald Forbes
Our second visit brought us into contact with the bourgeois element.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
My godfather made a great fuss of her, for success was everything to this bourgeois.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
The crowd, we soon discovered, was bourgeois in the extreme.
The ForestStewart Edward White
Go all your life dressed like a bourgeois and they'll never call you "My dear gentleman."
The Middle Class GentlemanMoliere
bourgeois1
- a member of the middle class, esp one regarded as being conservative and materialistic or (in Marxist thought) a capitalist exploiting the working class
- a mediocre, unimaginative, or materialistic person
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- characteristic of, relating to, or comprising the middle class
- conservative or materialistic in outlooka bourgeois mentality
- (in Marxist thought) dominated by capitalists or capitalist interests
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Word Origin
C16: from Old French borjois, burgeis burgher, citizen, from bourg town; see burgess
bourgeois2
- (formerly) a size of printer's type approximately equal to 9 point
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Word Origin
C19: perhaps from its size, midway between long primer and brevier
Bourgeois
- Léon Victor Auguste . (leɔ̃ viktɔr oɡyst). 1851–1925, French statesman; first chairman of the League of Nations: Nobel peace prize 1920
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bourgeois
adj.
1560s, "of the French middle class," from French bourgeois, from Old French burgeis, borjois "town dweller" (see bourgeoisie). Sense of "socially or aesthetically conventional" is from 1764; in communist and socialist writing, as a noun, "a capitalist" (1883).
It is better to be a good ordinary bourgeois than a bad ordinary bohemian. [Aldous Huxley, 1930]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper