as in low
belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank
a TV producer who knew what the unwashed masses wanted—and unhesitatingly gave it to them
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in masses
people looked down upon as ignorant and of the lowest class
Aunt Edna was fond of snootily reminding us that we need not take our manners from the great unwashed
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unwashed
Mark Prussin, CBS News, 27 Dec. 2025
Sorry Lady Liberty – no unwashed masses need apply.
—Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 11 Dec. 2025
Bliss is said to have examined Garfield's wounds with unwashed hands and dirty tools, and the president's death further damaged his reputation.
—Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Nov. 2025
The Chinese mill’s Soft Raw collection enables customer to use unwashed denim directly off the roll with a soft comfortable hand and deep dark inky indigo shades.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unwashed
Adjective
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
—Mark Prussin, CBS News, 27 Dec. 2025
Sorry Lady Liberty – no unwashed masses need apply.
—Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA Today, 11 Dec. 2025
Bliss is said to have examined Garfield's wounds with unwashed hands and dirty tools, and the president's death further damaged his reputation.
—Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Nov. 2025
The Chinese mill’s Soft Raw collection enables customer to use unwashed denim directly off the roll with a soft comfortable hand and deep dark inky indigo shades.
—Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unwashed
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unwashed
Adjective
-
Tire tread depth - Checking your tire tread before hitting the road is important, as low or no tread can lead to sliding.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
20 Feb. 2026
-
All that is gone, even more so as Premier League matches are being switched to Mondays and Fridays, when demand for everything is lower.—
Andy Mitten,
New York Times,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
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
Noun
-
Tanner spoke in a blend of political rabble-rousing and entrepreneurial uplift.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
21 Jan. 2026
-
There’s something quite magical, really, about millions of bits of colorful paper flying like snow through the air over a raucous rabble.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
31 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
The psychological vulnerability this creates was encountered decades ago in a far humbler system.—
Deb Roy,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
-
And Scorsese approaches it all through the lens of Harrison’s humble humanism.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
That combination makes for a happy society and ensures a populace that drives a productive economy for years to come.—
Alexis Akwagyiram,
semafor.com,
20 Feb. 2026
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The announcers need to study intensely, learning details not only about an athlete, but what a particular sport means to the populace of a country halfway around the world.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
Below that sits the pedestrian CLK 500 and plebeian CLK 350.—
Jeremy Korzeniewski,
Robb Report,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
The proceeding will also serve as a public reckoning in a case long viewed as one of Austin’s gravest miscarriages of justice — effectively functioning as an official acknowledgment that the men were wrongfully accused and prosecuted.—
Austin Sanders,
Austin American Statesman,
18 Feb. 2026
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When, instead, another Black Democrat from Chicago, Barack Obama, headed toward the Democratic nomination in 2008, Jackson’s frustration spilled into public with a vulgar criticism of Obama caught on microphone.—
Johanna Neuman,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Feb. 2026
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
Cite this Entry
“Unwashed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unwashed. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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