underclass

noun

un·​der·​class ˈən-dər-ˌklas How to pronounce underclass (audio)
: the lowest social stratum usually made up of disadvantaged minority groups

Examples of underclass in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The story of the underclass, including those who are forgotten and don’t have a voice, has long fascinated McAvoy. Yuri Kageyama, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Jan. 2024 Combined, Joe’s dynamic drive, the gritty setting among the underclass of ’60s-era Tokyo, and the animation’s strategic mix of motion and stillness, all form an indelible whole. Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2024 The uncomfortable truth is that the welfare system has created the underclass. Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register, 4 Oct. 2024 Despentes offers no quarter to her titular hero, whose dark wit and casually racist rants come at the reader in a mad rush of metaphors and aphorisms, Despentes’s gutter vernacular of the underclass. Marc Weingarten, The Atlantic, 23 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for underclass 

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of underclass was in 1918

Dictionary Entries Near underclass

Cite this Entry

“Underclass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underclass. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.

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