petite bourgeoisie

[puh-teet boor-zhwah-zee, puh-teet boor-zhwa-zee]

noun

1. the portion of the bourgeoisie having the least wealth and lowest social status; the lower middle class.

Word History and Origins

Origin of petite bourgeoisie¹

Borrowed into English from French around 1915–20

Example Sentences

Now, he seems to be trying to ensure those "petite bourgeoisie" stay in their place, J.R.

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And the director Marcelo Martinessi, who says he was inspired by the romance between Paraguay’s petite bourgeoisie and authoritarian regimes, captured the Alfred Bauer Prize for a feature “that opens new perspectives.”

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This tournament, thus far, has belonged not to soccer’s great aristocratic houses, but to its petite bourgeoisie.

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It seems indeed that trying to recognise the American "service class" or the European petite bourgeoisie in today's African societies only goes so far.

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On the 23rd Guizot’s cabinet resigned, abandoned by the petite bourgeoisie, on whose support they thought they could depend.

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