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working class

working class

69 2.8
People who do manual or factory work and earn hourly wages
  • noun
  • /ˈwɜrkɪŋ klæs/
translation icon : clase trabajadora
  • Many individuals in the working class struggle to make ends meet despite their hard work.
  • industrial working class
  • working-class life
  • working-class women

How do we bring back the working class to the Democratic Party?

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Examples

  • I, I grew up with nothing, you know, in a working class family.

  • Even with this election, some working class people have chosen Trump.

  • The second reason why the white working class is angry is cultural.

  • So this is the working class telling you what they feel.

  • Absolutely nothing has been done to help the working class in the UK.

  • Too many things are happening and the working class is hit in too many ways.

  • We are here, so the working class can have more power!

  • In his generation, the great journey was from the working class to the professional class.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The middle class and working class people are being crushed.

  • But above and beyond that, working class people live under enormous stress.

Synonyms

labor
vsworking class
  • US
588 2.3

The group of people who work, usually organized in unions

focuses on social group of manual hourly workers rather than political collectivity
proletariat
vsworking class
  • Specialized
17 7.9

People who work for pay and do not own land or factories

emphasizes manual or industrial work and hourly wages not ownership
workpeople
vsworking class
3.9

People who do jobs using their hands in places like factories

is a social group identity rather than any employed people

Antonyms

258 4.7

A small group of the most powerful or rich people in a society

15 3.4

A social group with the most money and power

How Low

mudsill
  • Offensive
9.9
underclass
  • Specialized
19 5.5
lower class
14 2.7
working class
69 2.8
middle class
516 2.0
upper class
15 3.4
elite
258 4.7

Surface Forms

working class singular

Morphology

working + class

The meaning is directly compositional: 'working' (engaged in paid work) + 'class' (a category) yields a category of people who work for a living, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to the social group of workers. Although sociological nuances (manual/industrial vs. professional distinctions) may require more background, the core sense is transparent and cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Working class began when many people worked long hours in factories and lived in the same neighborhoods, forming a group apart from owners and managers. The word working shows they did paid manual work and class means a social group, so it now means 'people who do manual or industrial work'.