leisure class

Cultural  

1. The rich, so called because they can afford not to work. The term was made current by the economist Thorstein Veblen in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class.

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Example Sentences

Vincent’s day job as a senior reporter for the Verge plants him firmly in the present, and he brings the reader up to the current craze of the leisure class: the “quantified self” movement.

From Washington Post • Nov. 30, 2022

Gillespie said the rule is "kind of a holdover from the leisure class."

From Fox News • Sep. 6, 2021

It left smug, witless readers of the leisure class amused.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2019

Here, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett updates Veblen's analysis, arguing that the leisure class is now aspirational, and that consumption has become inconspicuous — all heirloom vegetables and electric cars.

From Nature • May 30, 2017

A jungle yields no abundance to feed the multitudes, and supports no leisure class.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• affluent
• upscale
• wealthy
• well-heeled
• well-off
• well-to-do