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• working class
  working class

  noun

  those persons working for wages, especially in manual labor.
• working-class
  working-class

  adjective

  of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class, the class of wage earners or manual laborers.

working class

¹ American  

noun

• working classes
  plural

1. those persons working for wages, especially in manual labor.

2. the social or economic class composed of these workers.

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working-class ² American  

[wur-king-klas] / ˈwɜr kɪŋˌklæs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class, the class of wage earners or manual laborers.

   He came from a working-class neighborhood in Nova Scotia, where his mother took in laundry and his father had a job in the coal mine.

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working class British  

noun

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

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class

working class Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• working-class
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• working classes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of working class¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Origin of working-class²

First recorded in 1830–40

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

working class working-class

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, has called on Healey to "do something for workers and the working class" in his Budget.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

It was the perfect environment for two blue-collar communities: San Pedro, known for its bustling port and dock workers, and Bell, known as a densely packed working class industrial city.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2026

In the 2024 American National Election Studies, for example, 21% of those who identify as working class have a college degree, only 5% belong to a private-sector union, and 37% own stocks.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

In Philadelphia—where kids are down 6%—Nija Rivera, 39, grew up working class in a row house with her siblings, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

The real gap between them, both said, was more subtle: Croteau came from the working class, and Woolner from money.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

The vote handed Lula, a former trade union leader, a major victory just 10 days before the runoff, giving him a popular achievement to champion among working-class voters who have traditionally formed his political base.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Born to a Puerto Rican mother and Irish father, Guilfoyle was brought up working-class in San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

She’s running as a candidate with working-class roots, focused on the farmers and rural communities she argues both political parties have neglected.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026

Gregor Mendel’s 1866 paper about genetics, Mr. Byrne writes, was overlooked perhaps “because he was outside the main scientific community—someone with a working-class background, and a monk at that.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

An inappropriate relationship with the working-class Maggie Fox could ruin the son of an upper-crust family like the Kanes.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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