proletary
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of proletary
1570–80; < Latin prōlētārius belonging to the lowest class of Roman citizens, i.e., those who contributed to the state only through their offspring, equivalent to prōlēt- (akin to prōlēs offspring; pro- pro- 1 + -olēs ( see adult)) + -ārius -ary
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.
Griswold's swing-chair righted itself with a click, and Bainbridge's prophecy that a hot-hearted proletary was likely to become the hardest of masters became a prediction fulfilled.
From The Price by Lynde, Francis
All this was very nourishing, not to say stimulating, to the starved soul of a proletary.
From The Price by Lynde, Francis
Whether proletary or not, there was nothing about him to offend the taste of the best-born of ladies.
From Marion Fay by Trollope, Anthony
But to live with his wife like a proletary, in St. Petersburg, among her brilliant relations and friends, he could not bring himself to do.
From Asbe?n From the Life of a Virtuoso by Schubin, Ossip
England has a proletary population, the lowest in Europe; we have three million of proletaries lower than the "pauper laborers" of England, which the whig protectionists hold up to us in terror.
From Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 3 (of 3) by Parker, Theodore
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.
