peasant

noun

peas·ant | \ ˈpe-zᵊnt

Definition of peasant

1 : a member of a European class of persons tilling the soil as small landowners or as laborers This land was farmed by peasants for centuriess. also : a member of a similar class elsewhere

2 : a usually uneducated person of low social status They treated us like a bunch of peasants.

Examples of peasant in a Sentence

They treated us like a bunch of peasants.

Recent Examples on the Web

The local gentry would marshal the peasants, laborers and tribesmen into polls that would choose each Parliament. — Reuel Marc Gerecht And, WSJ, "Don’t Fear Regime Change in Iran," 11 June 2018 There are no homey peasant bonfires in Cybernetic Grandma (1962), an exercise in cold, white, geometrical vistas that anticipate the chilly 2001: A Space Odyssey. — J.r. Jones, Chicago Reader, "Animator Jiří Trnka created magical worlds amid stifling communist censorship," 31 May 2018 Cheo arose in the northern part of Vietnam in the Red River Delta as part of the Viet Kinh (peasant) tradition. — Antonia Neubauer, Town & Country, "How to Plan a Trip to Asia," 5 Oct. 2016 The colors are almost exclusively shades of white and nude, and the designs are really minimal (think basic tees with an interesting collar, peasant tops, and white eyelit shorts). — Amanda Hearst, Marie Claire, "H&M Goes Eco a Second Time," 9 Feb. 2011 But the period instead was tainted by army killings of peasants, demonstrators and opposition leaders. — Jacqueline Charles, miamiherald, "Henri Namphy, one-time coup leader and Haiti president, dies in Dominican Republic," 27 June 2018 Over the history of our species most of us lived much like a peasant in India or Bangladesh does today. — Michael Hicks, Indianapolis Star, "Hicks: We've got it good, and we don't even know it," 24 June 2018 Bras' philosophy is to treat his native Aubrac with utter sanctity, and his creations are all plays on local traditions, often peasant in origin, but reinvented and represented in all manner of wierd and wonderful ways. — Town & Country, "These Are the 83 Top Hotels Around the World," 6 Oct. 2016 In Guatemala a peasant farmer, recognizing the neglect, begged to adopt him. — Paul Theroux, Smithsonian, "The Epic Quest to Ride the World’s Biggest Wave," 27 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'peasant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.