working-class

¹ 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.

---

working class ² American  

noun

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

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

---

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

---

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.

---

Other Word Forms

• working-class adjective

Etymology

Origin of working-class¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Origin of working class¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Lindsay, 52, best known for playing the Rovers Return landlady Shelley Unwin on the ITV soap set in Greater Manchester, said she was "extremely honoured", and dedicated the award to working class actors.

From BBC

He pulls long shifts of guard duty in the city center and still lives with his family in a working class Damascus suburb.

From The Wall Street Journal

And, through an egalitarian employment space, offer working class kids a route into creative industry where background may sometimes be barrier.

From BBC

Enita, one of the leisure-class Sainted, provides ostensibly useful services to the working class in the last human city of Bulwark—she farms new limbs and organs for those who can’t afford medical care.

From The Wall Street Journal

The working class La Villa neighborhood of Mexico City where the basilica is located fills with trucks festooned with with wreaths and Christmas lights and hordes of pilgrims camping in the streets.

From Los Angeles Times