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• third class
  third class

  noun

  the class, grade, or rank immediately below the second.
• third-class
  third-class

  adjective

  of the lowest or poorest class or quality; inferior.

third class

¹ American  

noun

• third classes
  plural

1. the class, grade, or rank immediately below the second.

2. the least costly class of accommodations on trains, in hotels, etc.

3. (in the U.S. Postal Service) the class of mail consisting of merchandise weighing up to 16 ounces, and written or printed material, as books, manuscripts, or circulars, not sealed against postal inspection.

4. the lowest of three honors degrees conferred by a British university.

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third-class ² American  

[thurd-klas, -klahs] / ˈθɜrdˈklæs, -ˈklɑs /

adjective

1. of the lowest or poorest class or quality; inferior.

2. least costly and luxurious.

   a third-class coach.

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adverb

1. by third-class mail or passenger accommodations.

   to travel third-class.

third class British  

noun

1. the class or grade next in value, quality, etc, to the second

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adjective

1. of the class or grade next in value, quality, etc, to the second

2. of or denoting the class of accommodation in a hotel, on a ship, etc, next in quality and price to the second: usually the cheapest

3. (in the US and Canada) of or relating to a class of mail consisting largely of unsealed printed matter

4. See third

adverb

1. by third-class mail, transport, etc

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• third classes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of third class¹

First recorded in 1835–45

Origin of third-class²

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

third class third-class

By the third class, I had established an unspoken understanding with the clay.

From Salon ● May 25, 2025

First, second and third class travel was provided for conformists, and another section with the same classes for non-conformists.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2023

At the time he was serving as a Navy gunner’s mate third class aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma, a vessel doomed by plane-fired torpedoes that capsized it in minutes.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2023

“Some people had it ranked as the third class in the country and I think it’s showing,” Oats said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 7, 2022

I’m totally shocked when Maddy shows up to our third class.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

At Oxford, Auden, after considering a scientific career, reaffirmed his poetic vocation but graduated only with an unimpressive third-class degree.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

"We are being treated like third-class citizens," said 72-year-old Yiannis Dinas, a sheep breeder from the Greek region of Macedonia.

From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026

“We can’t have world-class buildings on top of a third-class infrastructure,” Ackerman said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2025

Upper second class degrees were awarded to half of students, while about one in five got lower second or third-class degrees.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2024

Along with a rush of other people, we squeezed onto the third-class coach.

From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan