middle class

¹ American  

[mid-l klas] / ˈmɪd l ˈklæs /

noun

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

• middle-classness noun

Etymology

Origin of middle class¹

First recorded in 1760–70

Origin of middle-class²

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

“We are middle class and have basically halted all of our discretionary spending.”

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

“The middle class is shifting how they are spending,” Long said.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

Plus, America’s overmedicated seniors, a new path to the middle class and Portugal’s best-kept secrets.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Whether modern India can now sustain its middle class is the question this decade will answer.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

She exists in an in-between place, middle class on paper but squeezed in reality.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times