as in poor
belonging to the class of people of middle social or economic rank
She grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, as did most of her classmates.
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as in working class
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of middle-class
Sarah Volpenhein, jsonline.com, 3 Nov. 2025
The book comprises over three dozen portraits by photographer James Van Der Zee—a renowned figure of the Harlem Renaissance known for depicting Black middle-class life—that offer a visual chronology of the tradition, complete with biblical and mythical adornments.
—Air Mail, 1 Nov. 2025
David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 3 Nov. 2025
With these proposals, students from the middle class and wealthy households also are given free lunch.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Adjective
The cuts will be hardest on some middle-class households which will no longer qualify for subsidies next year if they are not extended, experts say.
—Sarah Volpenhein, jsonline.com, 3 Nov. 2025
The book comprises over three dozen portraits by photographer James Van Der Zee—a renowned figure of the Harlem Renaissance known for depicting Black middle-class life—that offer a visual chronology of the tradition, complete with biblical and mythical adornments.
—Air Mail, 1 Nov. 2025
Noun
But the state also has very progressive tax brackets, and studies have found that people with lower and middle class incomes tend to pay at rates competitive with many other states.
—David Lightman, Sacbee.com, 3 Nov. 2025
With these proposals, students from the middle class and wealthy households also are given free lunch.
—Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for middle-class
Adjective
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The Ministry of Environment blamed this year’s surge on a poor acorn harvest – which drove a similar spate of attacks in 2023.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
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Rather, the slow start (by Ovechkin’s standards) to this season seemed due more to poor puck luck.—
Sean Gentille,
New York Times,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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While the Queen was something of a controversial choice for the bride of a future king, as she had been married before and grew up working class, the royal rift likely stems from a more complicated history with the family.—
Meredith Kile,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
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Lowriders trace back to the 1940s-era working class of Mexican American and Chicano communities throughout the American Southwest.—
Greta Cross,
USA Today,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This was indeed something new under the bourgeois sun.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Cultured, cosmopolitan, generally liberal, the Dohnányis and the Bonhoeffers represented the best of the German-speaking bourgeois tradition.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Early American bohemianism is often associated with the literature of Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Jack London, and Henry Miller, as well as a host of artists and intellectuals who embraced social nonconformity through a rejection of mainstream bourgeoisie values.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Oct. 2025
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Its leaders sanctioned the mass appropriation of lands from the nobility and their distribution to smaller farmers and the urban bourgeoisie.—
Michael Albertus,
Foreign Affairs,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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According to Bruce Blair, a former Air Force launch officer and nuclear policy expert, between 1962 and the mid-1970s the most powerful digits on the globe were simple – eight zeros.—
Charlotte Reck,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
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That something as simple as a COVID vaccine might improve survival in cancer patients receiving standard immunotherapy has taken oncologists by surprise — in a good way.—
Lisa Jarvis,
Twin Cities,
8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Mamdani worked with Bichotte Hermelyn and other Black city leaders to meet with voters, including frequent church stops in the city's working-class outer boroughs.—
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA Today,
7 Nov. 2025
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In the early twentieth century, two groups of Indians living in America, young intellectuals and working-class laborers, had very different experiences of the country.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Middle-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/middle-class. Accessed 10 Nov. 2025.
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