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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

The Oscar-winning film, directed by James Cameron, saw Kate Winslet play upper class socialite Rose opposite Leonardo DiCaprio's third class passenger Jack Dawson on the doomed ship's maiden voyage.

From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025

But on Thursday, officials announced that they had used advanced forensic technology to identify one of them as David Walker, a 19-year-old mess attendant third class from Norfolk, Va.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2024

“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

Discharged as a petty officer third class in 1946, he enrolled at Washington and Lee University, where he received a degree in engineering.

From Washington Post ● May 26, 2021

During the summer of 1935, John cadged a small grant from the Macy Foundation to travel third class to Berkeley, and presented himself and his mice at the Rad Lab.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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

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

In an overcrowded third-class compartment, a teenage soccer team on its way to a tournament belted out songs.

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2022

He saw the engine rooms and the boiler rooms, and wound up on the third-class recreation deck.

From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis