middle class
516
2.0
- noun
- /ˈmɪdəl klæs/
:
clase media
- They are otherwise known as middle class taxpaying families.
- upper middle class
- white middle class
- black middle class
Poor people spend, the middle class save and the wealthy invest.
- Poor people spend, the middle class save and the wealthy invest.
- Lower taxes on the middle class, help the people struggling.
- Yes rich people got richer, but the poor and middle class got richer too.
- Again, there was a black middle class before affirmative action.
- So it was mostly like like middle class, like hipsters, students.
- And so now they have a huge middle class, economic middle class.
Examples
-
The family's economic status ranged from upper middle class to the just surviving level.
Academic text (1999) -
You come from a middle class home.
-
OK, so I feel like my parents are middle class plus now.
-
This was a century of middle class love spent here.
-
No, I grew up super normal, like middle class family.
-
The Chinese international student represents a rise in the middle class in China.
Academic text (2013) -
Poor people spend, the middle class save and the wealthy invest.
-
It's going away, OK, The middle class is getting erased.
-
They talk about saving the middle class because the poor are toast.
-
Many families in the city belong to the middle class and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.
Synonyms
11
8.4
A social class between workers and the rich who own property or businesses
Antonyms
How Middle-Class
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the social group between the working and upper classes' is directly compositional from 'middle' (intermediate) + 'class' (a category/group of people). This concept and compound structure are cross-linguistically common and follows standard noun-noun/adj-noun composition, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase middle class comes from the simple image of society as layers or floors, where the middle class sits between the poor and the rich. That's why middle class means the social group 'between' the working and the upper classes.