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• middle class
  middle class

  noun

  the social, economic, and cultural class of people thought of as having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.
• middle-class
  middle-class

  adjective

  of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois.

middle class

¹ American  

[mid-l klas] / ˈmɪd l ˈklæs /

noun

• middle classes
  plural

1. the social, economic, and cultural class of people thought of as having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.

   Life for the middle class includes going to college, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, and raising kids.

   We intend to put an end to the tax squeeze on the middle class.

2. Sociology. Sometimes middle classes the socioeconomic stratum intermediate between the upper or aristocratic class and the laboring class, made up mostly of business people, professionals, civil servants, and skilled workers, and sometimes further subdivided into the upper middle class and the lower middle class.

   In the 1950s and 1960s in America, an emphasis on education increased upward mobility, and the middle class expanded.

   Self-improvement, a strong work ethic, and modesty were among the core moral values of the German middle classes of the early 20th century.

3. any intermediate class.

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middle-class ² American  

[mid-l-klas, -klahs] / ˈmɪd lˈklæs, -ˈklɑs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois.

   middle-class taste; middle-class morality.

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middle class British  

noun

1. 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 values Compare lower class upper class working class

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adjective

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

middle class Cultural  

1. 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.

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• middle-classness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• middle classes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of middle class¹

First recorded in 1760–70

Origin of middle-class²

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

middle class middle-class

The stakes are especially high in India, where a government job offers a steady salary, social status and a route into the middle class.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

"The good thing is that rugby started in Argentina among the middle class and upper middle class, but now it's played in every social class," said the former Leinster fly-half.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

The reforms Havana just approved create the conditions under which a Cuban middle class could emerge.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

De la Espriella appealed not just to anti-left voters, but to a burgeoning middle class frustrated by growing crime -- a leading issue for voters in every recent Latin American election.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Overnight we went from being a family desperately trying to stay in the middle class to one with hopes of sneaking into the upper, or at least the upper-middle.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Modi said the free online classes would ease financial burden on "poor and middle-class families".

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

Now, though, the 31-year-old Mayfield is in the final season of a contract that pays him $33 million a year, which makes him one of the NFL’s rare middle-class quarterbacks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Really, he’s just a middle-class kid from New Jersey who doesn’t expect to work for a living.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

"A system for a typical household would range maybe around $3,000 to $5,000," said New Energy Nexus's Valerio, calling it "too much" for a middle-class family without financing.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

I’m careful to paint a picture of myself as gente de close, a middle-class mestizo girl from a nice family with a rustic home in the country.

From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau