déclassé
Americanadjective
-
reduced to or having low or lower status.
a once-chic restaurant that had become completely déclassé.
-
reduced or belonging to a lower or low social class, position, or rank.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of déclassé
1885–1890; < French, past participle of déclasser. See de-, class
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.
By elevating quotidian subject matter to a sublime frenzy of saturated hues, he established color photography as an art form during the 1960s and ’70s, when it had been dismissed as déclassé.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
How a cut once deemed déclassé is now at the forefront of chicness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2023
As prevalent as garlic is in American cooking today, for much of the 20th century it was considered an exotic, even déclassé, ingredient.
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2022
And if it is so déclassé, why does every brand, even the fanciest among them, have a salted version?
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2021
Cookie in an emerald green moirette petticoat and a somewhat déclassé bedjacket, a tight knot of hair playing bob-cherry with her kindly right blue eye, and a rolling-pin clutched truculently in her red right hand.
From Leonie of the Jungle by Joan Conquest
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.
