second-class citizen

American  

noun

1. a citizen, especially a member of a minority group, who is denied the social, political, and economic benefits of citizenship.

2. a person who is not accorded a fair share of respect, recognition, or consideration.

   The boss treats us all like second-class citizens.

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second-class citizen British  

noun

1. a person whose rights and opportunities are treated as less important than those of other people in the same society

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Example Sentences

He said his apparent placement on the U.S. government’s watchlist has rendered him a second-class citizen in his adopted country, and that his apparent removal from the list has failed to fully restore his rights.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 18, 2023

There are several Kens in this movie, all of them amiable second-class citizen hunks of Barbie Land, played by actors including Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans and Ncuti Gatwa.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2023

Much is made of Radcliffe College, Britton’s alma mater, serving as a sort of second-class citizen to all-male Harvard, a dynamic upset by a merger of the two institutions that rocked Harvard’s otherwise conservative campus.

From Washington Post • Nov. 14, 2020

Individualism coinciding with the residual influence of empire created a cultural climate in which the country’s aspirant classes depended on the belief of a second-class citizen.

From The Guardian • Oct. 14, 2020

The brunt of many classical music in-jokes, the viola has long been relegated to second-class citizen of the string section.

From New York Times • Oct. 11, 2019