a class of people below the middle class, having the lowest social rank or standing due to low income, lack of skills or education, and the like.
(broadly) working class.
of or relating to the lower class
inferior or vulgar
First recorded in 1765–75
First recorded in 1890–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Even if a government job is lower class, it is still prestigious in Bangladesh,” Amin said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
"For the first time it was the Kenyan people - the working class and the middle class and the lower class - against the ruling class," says Mwangi.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025
Instead, she and two of her sisters each moved to Mexico City to do one of the few jobs available to them as lower class women: domestic work.
From Seattle Times ● May 26, 2024
Thompson suggested that food formed part of the "moral economy" and food prices were central to lower class protest in England.
From Salon ● Mar. 30, 2023
Theo doesn’t look down on Vincent for being with someone from a lower class, having done so himself.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
They are particularly alarmed about certain groups possibly ending up paying more for loans than their peers — a daunting prospect today given the cost of living crisis among the nation’s middle- and lower-class.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 17, 2025
As a result of this, it has both suffered being characterized as a lower-class indulgence, while also being celebrated for its flavor and pop culture ubiquity.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2024
“Most cars stolen are from middle-class or lower-class people who really need that car and maybe have one car, and that’s a great expense to them to lose that car,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
The empire was organized around several urbanized centers with monumental architecture including grand royal palaces, as well as lower-class homes made from stone or mud with thatched roofs.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
The musicians wink and smile at each other as they play, and I see then that they are the secret emissaries of a worldwide lower-class conspiracy to snatch joy out of degradation and filth.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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.
