bourgeois

adjective

Definition of bourgeoisnext
as in middle-class
belonging to the class of people of middle social or economic rank The neighborhood was occupied primarily by bourgeois families.

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of bourgeois The latest lesson was about the aristocratic and bourgeois aspect of Gucci. — Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 25 Sep. 2026 Even if the movie gets a bit crazy in an apocalyptic epilogue, its picture of bourgeois smugness due for a takedown is delicious. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026 Animals could offer liberatory models to throw off bourgeois conventions, returning Surrealists to primal ways of being. — Kelly Presutti, ARTnews.com, 28 Aug. 2026 Their attempts to destroy the bourgeois family were, like the efforts of Suzanna’s mother and grandmother, ambivalent and half-hearted. — Julius Taranto, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for bourgeois
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bourgeois
  1. middle-class
  2. working-class
  3. plain
Adjective
  • And judging by the amount of controversy that’s already been stirred up, Sacha Baron Cohen’s iconic character of a middle-class white Brit appropriating hip-hop and Jamaican mannerisms still has the ability to rile people.
    — Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
  • The rigid enforcement of the NBA introduced another era of expensive hardbacks, giving a new lease of life to the middle-class circulating libraries.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of middle-class
Adjective
  • Its founders, Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey, met while studying animation at Ballyfermot College, a vocational school in a working-class Dublin suburb.
    — Stacy Perman, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026
  • But, ultimately, Brown lost because many working-class voters had moved on from the Democrats.
    — Dan Kaufman, New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of working-class
Adjective
  • The best, the least mediocre, unfortunately, is Tadao Ando, the better of whose work derives from Kahn, the plain modular rectangles made of concrete framed by verticals and, less clear even in Kahn, the geometric cuts and sections.
    — Julian Rose, Artforum, 1 Nov. 2026
  • Here is a plain-language guide to what the tiny beads do, where the practice came from and what the research shows.
    — Hanna Wickes, Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of plain

Browse Nearby Words

bourg
bourgeois
bourgeoisie
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Cite this Entry

“Bourgeois.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bourgeois. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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