the masses

Idioms  

1. The body of common people, or people of low socioeconomic status, as in TV sitcoms are designed to appeal to the masses. This idiom is nearly always used in a snobbish context that puts down the taste, intelligence, or some other quality of the majority of people. W.S. Gilbert satirized this view in the peers' march in Iolanthe (1882), in which the lower-middle class and the masses are ordered to bow down before the peers. Prime Minister William Gladstone took a different view (Speech, 1886): “All the world over, I will back the masses against the [upper] classes.” [First half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Jerald “Coop” Cooper is an artist and founder of Hood Century, a media agency researching, archiving and educating the masses on Black folks lived experience with the city, via architecture, design and popular culture.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

It was the stock ticker’s 1869 introduction that brought trading, legal and illicit, to the masses.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

West didn’t just embody feminist fat acceptance; she made it cool and brought it to the masses.

From Slate • Mar. 31, 2026

It said it would introduce new rules to tackle fraud and a lack of transparency in funeral pricing to "reduce the burden of funerals on the masses".

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

Salva looked around at the masses of people stretched out as far as he could see.

From "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park