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

The developers say automating pollination could reduce the need for manual labor, lower breeding costs, and improve the efficiency of hybrid breeding.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2026
Current market pricing suggests low odds of a rate hike at its September meeting.

— Jenni Reid, CNBC, 9 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

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

While the wider world has in recent decades fallen for the archipelago’s humble street food, there’s a rising number of contemporary chefs who are elevating the national cuisine on the global stage.

— Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 5 Sep. 2026
In those interviews, the brothers are charmingly self-effacing and humble, a far cry from the braggadocious, aggressive posturing that defined their early celebrity.

— Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of humble

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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“Lumpen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumpen. Accessed 12 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of lumpen

adjective

Example Sentences

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