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.
(broadly) working class.
of or relating to the lower class
inferior or vulgar
First recorded in 1765–75
First recorded in 1890–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
"For the first time it was the Kenyan people - the working class and the middle class and the lower class - against the ruling class," says Mwangi.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2025
"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
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.
