working class

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR working class ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

those persons working for wages, especially in manual labor.

the social or economic class composed of these workers.

Origin of working class

First recorded in 1805–15

Related formswork·ing-class, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for working class

proletariat, proles, workfolk, workpeople

Examples from the Web for working class

Contemporary Examples of working class

But in more middle-class and working-class neighborhoods, sessions are typically a fourth of that price.
Iran’s Becoming a Footloose Nation as Dance Lessons Spread
IranWire
January 2, 2015
You mix up English working-class gruffness with African-American soul from the Deep South.
The Greatest Rock Voice of All Time Belonged to Joe Cocker
Ted Gioia
December 23, 2014
Iowa told a similar story, where working-class voters gave Republican Joni Ernst a 15 percent edge.
With Immigration Move, Obama and the Welfare Party Strike Again
Lloyd Green
November 24, 2014
And right now, working-class and blue-collar whites think the Democratic Party is just implacably against them.
Inside the Democrats’ Godawful Midterm Election Wipeout
Michael Tomasky
November 5, 2014
Locking up the primary breadwinner can push a family from working-class to impoverished.
Why Isn’t Prison Justice on the Ballot This Tuesday?
Inimai Chettiar, Abigail Finkelman
November 1, 2014

Historical Examples of working class

It appeared that the working-class had not realised the seriousness of the situation.
Changing Winds
St. John G. Ervine
That can be effective only so long as the working-class is without sovereignty.
A Preface to Politics
Walter Lippmann
I don't think they are villagers, but of the working-class, I should say.
T. Tembarom
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Remains the working-class to see what it can do with the opportunity.
Revolution and Other Essays
Jack London
“But the working-class is incapable,” says the capitalist class.
Revolution and Other Essays
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for working class

working class

noun

Also called: proletariat the social stratum, usually of low status, that consists of those who earn wages, esp as manual workersCompare lower class, middle class, upper class

adjective working-class

of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

working class in Culture

working class

In the United States, the population of blue-collar workers, particularly skilled and semiskilled laborers, who differ in values, but not necessarily in income, from the middle class. In Marxism, this term refers to propertyless factory workers.