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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Dissimilar Words
as in working class
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of middle-class
Suzette Valladares, Oc Register, 15 Feb. 2026
Fred Lee / Getty Images Though China has changed greatly in recent decades — with special foods and new outfits that were once rare holiday treats now everyday purchases for many middle-class people — Xu said some aspects of the new year celebration have stayed the same.
—Jennifer Jett, NBC news, 15 Feb. 2026
Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 13 Feb. 2026
How is the middle class different now?
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Adjective
And right now, California’s energy transition is failing the very people it’s supposed to help — working- and middle-class families — because it is being driven more by mandates and hope than by realism, reliability, and affordability.
—Suzette Valladares, Oc Register, 15 Feb. 2026
Fred Lee / Getty Images Though China has changed greatly in recent decades — with special foods and new outfits that were once rare holiday treats now everyday purchases for many middle-class people — Xu said some aspects of the new year celebration have stayed the same.
—Jennifer Jett, NBC news, 15 Feb. 2026
Noun
Those include a $10,000 middle class tax credit, bringing down prescription drug prices and reducing premiums for health coverage.
—Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 13 Feb. 2026
How is the middle class different now?
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 11 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for middle-class
Adjective
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Policymakers globally are increasingly worried that the unequal adoption of AI risks widening income and development gaps between rich and poor countries.—
Hanna Ziady,
CNN Money,
18 Feb. 2026
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In November, Jesse Jackon was hospitalized again after suffering a fall while protesting poor campus living conditions with students at Howard University.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
17 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The house always wins Thaksin’s promise to improve the lives of the rural working classes, implement universal healthcare and subsidies for farmers earnt him a millions-strong following, particularly among his home base in the northeast.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
17 Feb. 2026
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To ignore race—or gender, or sexuality—while attempting to build working class solidarity is to say that there are some concerns of working class people that do not matter.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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These movies have the extraordinary merit of putting the passions of love and the obstacles to relationships front and center, balancing personal desires and social obligations on an equal footing, and thereby lending bourgeois life the grandeur of tragedy.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
18 Feb. 2026
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At least Stijn Verhoeven and Ewa Mroczkowska’s nuanced production design for the interiors, including bourgeois homes full of kitschy knick-knacks, anonymous office spaces and frigidly austere villas, tell a story of their own about the material culture of the era.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Woodcutters sets forth the musings of a narrator sitting in an armchair at a dinner party who excoriates the literary awards establishments of his native land (and by extension all lands that are host to a robust bourgeoisie).—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Feb. 2026
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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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That simple sentiment distills what being a Louisianan is about.—
Carlie Procell,
USA Today,
18 Feb. 2026
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No doubt history would be very different if a citizen’s duty was simple obeyance.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Professional football emerged in industrial England, shaped by working-class communities and factory towns.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2026
-
Hunter-Torricke was born in London in 1985 to working-class parents.—
Billy Perrigo,
Time,
17 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Middle-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/middle-class. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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