petite bourgeoisie
noun
: the lower middle class including especially small shopkeepers and artisans
Examples of petite bourgeoisie in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Internally, the adoption of multi-racialism as a policy was designed to diminish—even if, initially, imperceptibly—the social and economic influence of white South Africans, and to displace them, at least partly, by the local petite bourgeoisie.
—
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 15 Aug. 2025
The landed gentry hold hands with bankers, the petite bourgeoisie, and the nouveaux riche.
—Samuel Earle, The New Republic, 23 Feb. 2021
Image This tournament, thus far, has belonged not to soccer’s great aristocratic houses, but to its petite bourgeoisie.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 June 2018
The airport is to America’s petite bourgeoisie—the small-time capitalists and traveling salesmen who delivered us to Trump—what the factory is to the white working class: a symbol of how much better things used to be.
—Henry Grabar, Slate Magazine, 7 Sep. 2017
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 15 Aug. 2025
The landed gentry hold hands with bankers, the petite bourgeoisie, and the nouveaux riche.
—Samuel Earle, The New Republic, 23 Feb. 2021
Image This tournament, thus far, has belonged not to soccer’s great aristocratic houses, but to its petite bourgeoisie.
—Rory Smith, New York Times, 29 June 2018
The airport is to America’s petite bourgeoisie—the small-time capitalists and traveling salesmen who delivered us to Trump—what the factory is to the white working class: a symbol of how much better things used to be.
—Henry Grabar, Slate Magazine, 7 Sep. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Petite bourgeoisie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petite%20bourgeoisie. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share