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lower class

lower class

14 2.7
People with little money, education, or power in society
  • noun
  • /ˈloʊər klæs/
translation icon : clase baja
  • The government's new policy aims to support the lower class in obtaining better healthcare and education.
  • middle and lower class
  • lower-class women

She needs to stop acting like all lower class workers feel neglected.

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Examples

  • It's always the lower classes, the peasants, right in that time that this history stretches back far.

  • In the discussion about wealth inequality, the lower class often faces the biggest challenges in accessing resources.

  • The sad part is that it's mostly lower class people in America who buy them.

  • And it was like, it was the lower class, it was men and women.

  • How else are us lower class supposed to get justice?

  • I think they see you as like a lower class citizen.

  • It's it's mostly, you know, middle class and lower class people whose children are serving in these wars.

  • The majority of the subjects are white, middle to lower class, and transient.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Macau's class structure consists of three sectors: upper class, middle class, and lower class.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The total bailout tag was estimated at more than $150 billion, with the middle and lower classes paying the largest share.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

poor
vslower class
194 1.3

People who have little money or possessions

focuses on low wealth rather than social status or power
less fortunate
vslower class
36 3.3

People who have little money or few chances

is a gentler term emphasizing disadvantage, not explicit class labels
underclass
vslower class
  • Specialized
19 5.5

A group of people at the bottom of society who are poor and have few chances to improve their lives

is a broader social label including low status education and power
lower orders
vslower class
  • Literature
1 7.0

People who have little money and low social status

is the more neutral modern label for the same group
mudsill
vslower class
  • Offensive
9.9

A social group seen as the lowest class that provides work to support others

frames the group by function and support, not general social status

Antonyms

15 3.4

A social group with the most money and power

How Wealthy

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

Surface Forms

lower class singular
lower classes plural

Morphology

low + class

The meaning 'the social group with the lowest status' is directly derivable from combining 'lower' (comparative of 'low', indicating lesser status) with 'class' (a category of people). This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand it.

Etymology

Lower class comes from the simple picture of people on the lower steps of a social ladder: the word class named a group or rank and lower shows they were at the bottom. That's why lower class means 'the group of people with the least money, education, or power'.