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• lower class
  lower class

  noun

  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.
• lower-class
  lower-class

  adjective

  of, relating to, or characteristic of the lower class.

lower class

¹ American  

[loh-er] / ˈloʊ ər /

noun

• lower classes
  plural

1. 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.

2. (broadly) working class.

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lower-class ² American  

[loh-er-klas, -klahs] / ˈloʊ ərˈklæs, -ˈklɑs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the lower class.

   lower-class values.

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lower class British  

noun

1. the social stratum having the lowest position in the social hierarchy Compare middle class upper class working class

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adjective

1. of or relating to the lower class

2. inferior or vulgar

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• lower classes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lower class¹

First recorded in 1765–75

Origin of lower-class²

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lower class lower-class

With shaved head and visible tattoos, Iago is in a lower class than Lucas Iverson’s clean-cut Cassio, fueling Iago’s raging resentment of his rival, chosen by the general Othello to be his second in command.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

"Do you want to make savings from falling pupil numbers, or do you want to maintain spending the way it is, and have lower class sizes?"

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

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

But, as different as “Pride and Prejudice” and “Longbourn” are, they agree in finding little room for laughter and romance in stories of the lower class.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2023

Theo doesn’t look down on Vincent for being with someone from a lower class, having done so himself.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

They are particularly alarmed about certain groups possibly ending up paying more for loans than their peers — a daunting prospect today given the cost of living crisis among the nation’s middle- and lower-class.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 17, 2025

“The people who are suffering are the middle-class and lower-class people that just love sports ... because it’s our escape from the real world.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025

I was raised in a lower-class, white, rural American household in the 1970s and '80s.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2024

Mass-produced and often made of concrete, they were cheaper and smaller, making them more accessible to middle- and lower-class homeowners.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2023

“As I said, we normally focus more on the working conditions of lower-class women in factory settings, where their daily duties put them at risk of considerable harm,” Tess continues.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Related Words

• proletariat
• working class