LUMPEN Synonyms: 44 Similar and Opposite Words

lumpen

adjective

ˈlu̇m-pən

Definition of lumpen

as in low

belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank a kind of music that has traditionally appealed to the lumpen segment of the musical audience

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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 lumpen But the earlier dolls were crude, lumpen things, a cross between a beanbag and a sculpted potato. — Alexandra Schwartz, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 2026 Yet Empire Falls translates into a lumpen, stodgy miniseries, despite a fine central performance from Harris as a divorced diner owner with deep roots in the town and a structure that allows the past to keep informing and enriching the present. — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024 Then the judges booted her for wearing a lumpen quilt skirt accessorized with a blow-up-doll boyfriend. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2022 Tye Sheridan gives a somewhat lumpen performance as the author’s stand-in, an aspiring writer whose family background is funky, to say the least. — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2022 The films of Sean Baker celebrate lumpen characters and communities that subsist within the cracks of America’s neoliberal landscape. — Erik Morse, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2021 Indeed, the miniatures — lumpen clay armchairs and occasional tables that Valle arranges and rearranges inside shoebox versions of their ultimate destinations — are closer to dollhouse furniture than to showpiece renderings. — New York Times, 9 Sep. 2021 Some collectors are leaning further into technology by amassing digital artworks, while other sets of buyers are coping by prizing ceramics, with their fragile, lumpen tactility. — Kelly Crow, WSJ, 6 July 2021

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumpen

Adjective

Bonnell Bonnell isn’t the first to come to the electric off-road motorcycle arena, but its strategy is to differentiate itself through integration, adjustability and relatively low weight rather than simply trying to win the horsepower spreadsheet.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026
In a footnote to his dissent, Roberts wrote that the underground work on the project – which lower courts had allowed to proceed – addressed the government’s security concerns.

— Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of low

Adjective

But West Virginia is a proletarian locale that until not long ago was a Democratic stronghold.

— Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 11 Feb. 2026
These ranged from the aristocratic elite who dominated the military and bureaucracy and yearned for a return to monarchy, to communists who sought proletarian rule, to the National Socialists who wanted to establish a right-wing dictatorship.

— Time, Time, 23 Oct. 2025

Definition of proletarian

Adjective

Some brought their unwashed laundry to a protest in the capital in August 2026.

— Ivis García, The Conversation, 20 Aug. 2026
Homewood Suites Charlotte Uptown The restaurant received 86% on June 30, with violations including employees in need of food safety training and unwashed hands.

— Eva Flowe July 25, Charlotte Observer, 25 July 2026

Definition of unwashed

Adjective

Linen and cotton, cooling garments, were too plebeian; the people posed nobly for street-style social-media accounts in leather jackets and low-slung jorts.

— Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 27 June 2026
This one is about a regular old guy, a hedge knight in the plebeian population of Westeros, just trying to get by in a world that isn't kind to the common and poor.

— Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 13 Jan. 2026

Definition of plebeian

Adjective

But new research is shedding light on what life was like for middle- and lower-class residents.

— Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
The franchise centers around a dystopian nation called Panem, where rich and authoritarian leaders force twelve lower-class districts to submit two children to fight in a deadly, and televised, battle every year.

— Nicholas Rice, PEOPLE, 11 July 2026

Definition of lower-class

Adjective

Bellow felt an affinity with Kennedy’s combination of low-life high jinks, human frailty, and virtuoso style.

— Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026
The president can be assured that his low-life actions will eliminate him as a candidate to get to Heaven.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 25 Mar. 2026

Definition of low-life

Adjective

Decide for yourself whether that’s a bold indicator of English football’s superiority over the rest of the world, or a revolting symbol of the bloated and vulgar behemoth that the game has become.

— Nick Miller, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
However, recent scholarship posits that the structure was used as ordinary (rather than punitive) housing, and that the vulgar decor was in fact a distinguishing characteristic of the epoch.

— Jim Greer, SPIN, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of vulgar

Browse Nearby Words

lumped (up)

lumpen

lumping

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Cite this Entry

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“Lumpen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumpen. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of lumpen

adjective

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