prole

American  

[prohl, proh-lee] / proʊl, ˈproʊ li /

noun

Informal.

1. a member of the proletariat.

2. a person who performs routine tasks in a society.

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adjective

1. proletarian.

prole British  

/ prəʊl /

noun

1. derogatory short for proletarian

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Etymology

Origin of prole

First recorded in 1885–90; shortened form of proletariat

Explanation

A prole is a worker, or a member of the blue-collar working class. Someone who's employed at a mill or a factory is considered a prole. Prole is short for proletariat, the collective name for workers that's especially common in (and was popularized by) Marxist economics. The word comes from the Latin proletarius, "citizen of the lowest class," used in ancient Rome to describe the group of people who didn't own property and whose only contribution to society was having children. It comes from proles, or "offspring."

Example Sentences

In language as crass and cadenced as gunfire, Mamet turned their man-eat-man philosophy, which some call capitalism, into brutal prole poetry: a poetry of predation, you might even say.

From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2022

He was not just Mr Cameron’s top prole; security types were impressed by his grasp of strategy.

From Economist • Jun. 26, 2014

Unchangeable, they have not changed a hair on their distinctive prole pompadours, which are still animated by Mike Judge with deliberate crudity.

From Slate • Oct. 26, 2011

Still, here they come, straight outta Leamington Spa, that hotbed of radical prole action, with their punk-inspired rock'n'roll, singing their anthems of rebellion and resistance – although against and to what remains unclear.

From The Guardian • Oct. 21, 2010

If there was anyone alive who could give you a truthful account of conditions in the early part of the century, it could only be a prole.

From "1984" by George Orwell