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third class

third class

5 3.9
The cheapest part of a ship or train with basic seats and little comfort
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : tercera clase
  • We found our seats in third class, where the accommodations were basic but serviceable for the trip.
  • third-class passenger
  • third-class ticket
  • third-class carriage

Examples

  • Many families choose to travel in third class to save money on their journey.

  • All third-class passengers... with a forward berth, this way, please!

    Titanic (1997)

  • "You should always travel third class," he advised, "to learn about life and people."

    Fiction book (2001)

  • LYNCH: So we got into third class.

    Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)

  • We bought third-class tickets and went out to the platform.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Mr. Dawson is joining us from the third class.

    Titanic (1997)

  • All third-class passengers queue here for health inspection.

    Titanic (1997)

  • It's astonishing, Verna, but I've lived my whole life in India and I never saw anything like the inside of that third-class railway carriage.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • We and the rest of the third-class passengers—mostly old people or mothers with small children—sat on flat wooden benches with no backs.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Her accommodations were designed to carry fifty-five first-class passengers, eighty-five second-class, and 370 third-class.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

economy class
vsthird class
3 2.0

The cheapest seats on a plane, train, or ship with basic services

is limited to cheapest accommodations on ship or train with limited comfort
tourist class
vsthird class
  • Archaic
3.2

The cheapest seats and rooms on planes, trains, and ships with few extras

is the cheapest option with basic services and limited comfort

Antonyms

first class
53 3.4

The most comfortable and expensive seats on a plane, train, or ship

second class
4 3.2

Cheaper seats or rooms on transport with fewer services than first class

How Comfortable

suite
288 3.5
first class
53 3.4
second class
4 3.2
third class
  • Archaic
5 3.9
steerage
  • Archaic
3 9.1

Surface Forms

third class singular
third classes plural

Morphology

third + class

The sense is compositionally built from 'third' (an ordinal indicating a lower rank) + 'class' (a category), so a learner can infer this refers to a lower/third-tier category of mail (lower priority or reduced rate). This ordinal+class schema is common cross-linguistically and in service/ticketing vocabulary, making the MWE immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.

Etymology

Third class comes from old ship and train tickets. Passengers in third class rode in the cheapest parts, often crowded with simple seats or bunks, so the phrase now means 'the cheapest or least comfortable' type of accommodation.