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Synonyms

working class

1 American  

noun

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

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

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.
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

"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

adjective

  1. 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 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 1805–15

Origin of working-class2

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In an emotional speech accepting the award, Sharon said her husband came "from a small working class neighbourhood in Birmingham" and "he rose to become one of the most recognisable and respected musicians".

From BBC

Of these culturally Muslim, rural working classes often credited with wanting a theocracy, my mother says “they just wanted someone to give them their rights. The only thing that united them was basic human needs.”

From The Wall Street Journal

And according to two polls that correctly anticipated the close three-way battle that emerged from the ballot boxes, Nigel Farage's party led the field in the predominantly white working class Denton half of the constituency.

From BBC

“Sure, we’re having a bit of a brawl on our side, but people are excited to show up for our candidates because they’re people that actually deliver results for working class people,” Scudder said.

From Salon

But it was her working class background rather than her age that made her feel like an outsider.

From BBC

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.