proletariat
the class of wage earners, especially those who earn their living by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual employment; the working class.
(in Marxist theory) the class of workers, especially industrial wage earners, who do not possess capital or property and must sell their labor to survive.
the lowest or poorest class of people, possessing no property, especially in ancient Rome.
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Origin of proletariat
1Other words from proletariat
- non·pro·le·tar·i·at, noun
Words Nearby proletariat
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use proletariat in a sentence
Under Stalin, and for years after his death in 1953, officially sanctioned artwork emphasized a Socialist Realist glorification of the heroic proletariat.
Irina Antonova, grande dame of Russian cultural life, dies at 98 | Emily Langer | December 4, 2020 | Washington PostAt the height of the Soviet Union, the proletariat universally understood everything their government said was a work of fiction.
Some “new men” from peasant and artisan backgrounds rose, but many others became part of an impoverished proletariat.
In the Future We'll All Be Renters: America's Disappearing Middle Class | Joel Kotkin | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTUltimately, though, what saved the Okies was not proletariat revolution but another world war.
In a post on his blog, Sprouse claims that he has become a member of the proletariat to feed his video game addiction.
Taylor Swift Cast in ‘The Giver,’ Kimmel Laughs at Kanye ‘Rap Feud’ | Culture Team | September 27, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
While Bolshevism was a dictatorship of the proletariat, Nazism was a dictatorship with a voting consensus behind it.
Communism and Fascism: The Reason They Are So Similar | J.P. O’Malley | September 28, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe fact of compulsory education created a proletariat able and willing to read.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile GautierThe thirst for culture has produced a great, hungry, intellectual proletariat.
The Arena | VariousThe higher technical education increases that intellectual proletariat which Bismarck saw to be a peril.
Humanly Speaking | Samuel McChord CrothersAt the same time the state was overthrown by a political party, the Bolsheviks, who set up a dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Book of Life: Vol. I Mind and Body; Vol. II Love and Society | Upton SinclairDiscusses the dictatorship of the proletariat, and its chances for success in the United States.
The Book of Life: Vol. I Mind and Body; Vol. II Love and Society | Upton Sinclair
British Dictionary definitions for proletariat
/ (ˌprəʊlɪˈtɛərɪət) /
all wage-earners collectively
the lower or working class
(in Marxist theory) the class of wage-earners, esp industrial workers, in a capitalist society, whose only possession of significant material value is their labour
(in ancient Rome) the lowest class of citizens, who had no property
Origin of proletariat
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for proletariat (1 of 2)
[ (proh-luh-tair-ee-uht) ]
In Marxism, the industrial working class, people without property.
[ (proh-luh-tair-ee-uht) ]
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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