class struggle

See synonyms for class struggle on Thesaurus.com

noun

Also called class conflict. conflict between different classes in a community resulting from different social or economic positions and reflecting opposed interests.
Also called class war, class warfare. (in Marxist thought) the struggle for political and economic power carried on between capitalists and workers.

Origin of class struggle

First recorded in 1840–50

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use class struggle in a sentence

The foreclosure-drama is a fascinating study of greed and class warfare, boasting excellent turns by Garfield and Shannon.
Andrew Garfield on the Evils of Capitalism, the Hacking Scandal, and Criticism of ‘Spider-Man 2’ | Marlow Stern | September 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
You mentioned “materialism” earlier, and one of the themes of both The Hunger Games and Divergent is class warfare.
Shailene Woodley Opens Up About Coming of Age, ‘Divergent,’ and the Faults in Our World | Marlow Stern | January 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
However, it should be clear that this is not “class warfare” as Slate calls it.
Bay Area Subway Strike Re-Ignites the Feud Between Unions and Silicon Valley | Gregory Ferenstein | July 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
In his time, Lincoln understood the usefulness of class warfare.
Off the Rails: How the Party of Lincoln Became the Party of Plutocrats | Joel Kotkin | November 22, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Suddenly it's Mitt Romney who sounds like the one making class warfare.
And now, Romney Double-Talk on Taxing the Rich | Michael Tomasky | October 10, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST

It is rather social clash, an irreconciled conflict of moral standards and purposes, the most serious form of class warfare.
Human Nature and Conduct | John Dewey
What is their industrial and class warfare but an attempt to enforce the doctrine of might is right?
What Germany Thinks | Thomas F. A. Smith
You mean it, of course, the other way about—of merging our religion in class warfare.
Brother Copas | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Class warfare is among Englishmen a quite normal, healthy function of the body politic: it keeps the blood circulating.
Brother Copas | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Nor will the philosophy of class warfare serve this new need.
A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann

British Dictionary definitions for class struggle

class struggle

noun

the class struggle marxism the continual conflict between the capitalist and working classes for economic and political power: Also known as: the class war

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

Cultural definitions for class struggle

class struggle

The idea, associated with Karl Marx (see also Marx), that conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (see also proletariat) is inevitable and will result in the triumph of socialism over capitalism.

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