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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 benchmarks for the contemporary understanding of the American middle class evolved in the 20th century, said Sam Pizzigati, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Over the next three decades, soaring demand for the fruit transformed Michoacán state into the center of global avocado production — and catapulted a generation of people like Pancho from poverty into the middle class.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026

Many are keenly aware of the pivotal role that home ownership played in building the financial well-being of their parents and the American middle class.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

But in earlier decades Minnesota was an American success story with world-class companies, high civic trust, a remarkable education tradition and a broad middle class.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

I passed along Tyler Reich’s insight—that Levittown was full of people who once felt a part of the middle class but had fallen down the ladder.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

The scandal resonated with students and middle-class families, cutting across religious and caste lines.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

It was the first time since the post-World War II economic boom that there was a large-scale, nationwide loss of middle-class wealth through housing.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

Like most of the middle-class kids in the class of 1978 at Jefferson High in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Walter worked in high school.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

How a cookbook helped Jewish immigrants adapt to middle-class American life while not losing their connection to their culinary culture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

They looked just as Paul had intended—unified, respectable, and solidly middle-class.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling