as in middle class
the class of people who earn money by doing usually physical work and who are not rich or powerful
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as in middle-class
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Recent Examples of working-class
PC Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025
Thus, for a working-class boy of Billy’s age, $5,000 feels like a life-altering sum that may open the door to a modicum of independence— that’s how much he’s offered to betray a new friend.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 8 Aug. 2025
Robert Niles, Oc Register, 22 July 2025
Like so many cities in America, though perhaps more so in working class three-shift towns, New Britain was filled with enormous three-floor, three-family wooden houses, each with apartments stacked one atop the other.
—Jody Mamone, Hartford Courant, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Noun
Eva Longoria is an investor in Mexican team Necaxa, which is moving from Mexico City to the more working-class area of Aguascalientes to try and revitalize the team's fan base after years of decline.
—PC Magazine, 8 Aug. 2025
Thus, for a working-class boy of Billy’s age, $5,000 feels like a life-altering sum that may open the door to a modicum of independence— that’s how much he’s offered to betray a new friend.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Over the past 70 years, America’s wealthy have become richer at the expense of the working class, making a Disneyland visit a tough sell for many families.
—Robert Niles, Oc Register, 22 July 2025
Like so many cities in America, though perhaps more so in working class three-shift towns, New Britain was filled with enormous three-floor, three-family wooden houses, each with apartments stacked one atop the other.
—Jody Mamone, Hartford Courant, 17 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for working-class
Noun
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Republicans are spending the break talking up the tax and spending law, trying to combat Democrat's attempts to set the narrative that the bill is a tax cut for the rich that hurts the poor and middle class.—
Sarah D. Wire,
USA Today,
3 Aug. 2025
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These comments confirm the gloomy remarks of University of Connecticut professor emeritus Peter Turchin, who recently talked with Fortune about the declining status of the upper middle class in 21st century America.—
Jessica Coacci,
Fortune,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In the late nineteenth century, middle-class white women were pouring into New York City from across the country to take advantage of the increasing number of professional opportunities in journalism, medicine, business, civic work, law, and the arts.—
Anne Halsey,
JSTOR Daily,
6 Aug. 2025
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Its blunt assessment of middle-class values and expectations?—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
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This kind of soft satire also puts me in mind of Dorothy West, who excellently sent up a nascent Black bourgeoisie in novels like The Wedding.—
Brittany Allen
July 10,
Literary Hub,
10 July 2025
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Most readers will be surprised to learn, for instance, that one of the early boosters of the venture was the American civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois, who would soon regret having believed that Fire-stone could hasten the emergence of an independent African bourgeoisie.—
Gregg Mitman,
Foreign Affairs,
19 Oct. 2021
Adjective
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Middle-aged and yet still pathetically upwardly mobile, John is the harbinger here, and his nasty bourgeois values, coming between Elsie and Colleen, turn out to the be the meat in the sandwich.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
6 June 2025
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Isabella Cosse writes that Quino was attacked both by the left (for being too bourgeois to offer a real critique of the political repression) and by the right (for being too friendly to subversive groups).—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
Adjective
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This implies a poor Debt-to-Equity Ratio of 52.5% (vs. 19.4% for S&P 500).—
Trefis Team,
Forbes.com,
16 Aug. 2025
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The general manager, making a rare road trip, told reporters that his presence had more to do with his scheduling availability than the Yankees’ third-place standing or their poor play over the past two-plus months.—
Gary Phillips,
New York Daily News,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Between stress, shame, emotional disconnection, the current state of the world being challenging, and just plain exhaustion, desire can come and go.—
Dominique Fluker,
Essence,
5 Aug. 2025
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Even the band’s look — blue denim, plain T-shirts, collegiate banners — was faded.—
Althea Legaspi,
Rolling Stone,
2 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Working-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/working-class. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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