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lumpen

[ luhm-puhn ]

adjective

  1. of or relating to disfranchised and uprooted individuals or groups, especially those who have lost status:

    the lumpen bourgeoisie.



noun

  1. a lumpen individual or group.

lumpen

/ ˈlʌmpən /

adjective

  1. informal.
    stupid or unthinking
“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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of lumpen1

First recorded in 1945–50; extracted from lumpenproletariat
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Word History and Origins

Origin of lumpen1

from German Lump vagabond, influenced in meaning by Lumpen rag, as in lumpenproletariat
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Example Sentences

His answer is what he calls “Precarious Sculpture,” proliferating jumbles of lumpen objects made from common, impermanent stuff, as if refusing to play by the elitist rules of enduring art.

The store is overrun by a mob of unusually lumpen bargain hunters, and the riot that ensues is a bloody doozy, coming off like an amalgam of George A. Romero and Jean-Luc Godard.

To get there, we had to follow the Ukrainian soldiers on foot - within a few paces my boots become lumpen and heavy with thick dirt.

From BBC

His lumpen goodness turns the hot-tempered fairy tale into a dull after-school special about peer pressure, which seems to suggest that Geppetto should have just carved himself a helicopter to parent the boy.

Rhys spent decades, often isolated and paranoid, in lumpen houses and apartments in and out of London, before success arrived late.

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