middle-class

[mid-l-klas, -klahs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR middle-class ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois: middle-class taste; middle-class morality.

Origin of middle-class

First recorded in 1890–95

Related formsmid·dle-class·ness, noun

middle class

noun

a class of people intermediate between the classes of higher and lower social rank or standing; the social, economic, cultural class, having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.

the class traditionally intermediate between the aristocratic class and the laboring class.

an intermediate class.

Origin of middle class

First recorded in 1760–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for middle-class

bourgeois, ordinary

Examples from the Web for middle-class

Contemporary Examples of middle-class

As a white, educated, Western, middle-class male, I possess most of the unearned privilege the world has to offer.
In 2015, Let’s Try for More Compassion
Gene Robinson
January 4, 2015
Memo to all Republican contenders: The GOP is now the home of white working- and middle-class voters.
Bush, Christie, Romney: Who’ll Be the GOP Class Warrior?
Lloyd Green
December 15, 2014
The Affordable Care Act was always a short-term political loser with respect to middle-class voters.
Staving Off a Democratic Civil War
Michael Tomasky
December 2, 2014
For us, the police embrace nothing if not working- and middle-class values and morality.
Prosecutor Used Grand Jury to Let Darren Wilson Walk
Tom Nolan
November 28, 2014
Middle-class Congolese like himself, called “évolué,” or “evolved,” were hunted down for having ties with the Europeans.
‘Argo’ in the Congo: The Ghosts of the Stanleyville Hostage Crisis
Nina Strochlic
November 23, 2014

Historical Examples of middle-class

This middle-class sentiment, or socialism, or whatever it may be, is rotten.
Strife (First Series Plays)
John Galsworthy
I had read, in books by English writers, of the British middle-class Pharisee.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln
The Manila middle-class native, in particular, possesses none of this.
The Philippine Islands
John Foreman
That is the life of the middle-class woman, as you probably know.
The Daffodil Mystery
Edgar Wallace
England's middle-class government was the ideal of human progress.
The Education of Henry Adams
Henry Adams

British Dictionary definitions for middle-class

middle class

noun

Also called: bourgeoisie a social stratum that is not clearly defined but is positioned between the lower and upper classes. It consists of businessmen, professional people, etc, along with their families, and is marked by bourgeois valuesCompare lower class, upper class, working class

adjective middle-class

of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class

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

Word Origin and History for middle-class

middle class

1766; as an adjective, "characteristic of the middle class" (depreciative) it dates from 1893.

middle-class in Culture

middle class

A social and economic class composed of those more prosperous than the poor, or lower class, and less wealthy than the upper class. Middle class is sometimes loosely used to refer to the bourgeoisie. In the United States and other industrial countries, the term is often applied to white-collar, as opposed to blue-collar, workers.

Note

Values commonly associated with the middle class include a desire for social respectability and material wealth and an emphasis on the family and education.