masses
Britishplural noun
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the body of common people
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informal (often foll by of) great numbers or quantities
masses of food
Explanation
The masses refers to a large, general group of regular folks — the common people of a society. If you’re super rich, you ride around in a private jet while the masses take crowded buses. The masses don’t include celebrities, rich people, royalty, or political leaders. The masses are everybody else. People use this term when they need to speak generally about the majority, although it often refers to the lower class. To win an election, a politician must appeal to the masses. Popular movies and music also must appeal to the masses — in other words, they need mass appeal. The word masses is also just plural for any kind of mass.
Vocabulary lists containing masses
Home of the Brave
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"Efrén Divided" by Ernesto Cisneros, Chapters 6–11
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Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He loved crime stories in which the culprit was the slippery masses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
On Martha’s Vineyard, “beach keys” are the ultimate status symbol, giving affluent property owners entry to secluded stretches of sand that are off-limits to the masses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
"Large objects such as stars curve spacetime strongly -- for example, we can observe this when light rays are deflected by massive stars. But smaller masses also produce spacetime curvature, just to a lesser extent."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
She wrote thousands of songs, but it was television that made her most popular ones, and her, accessible to the masses.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
It had been a late spring and there were still masses of roses.
From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
