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
Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
Raised in Blackpool, England, after his adoption into a working-class family, Ball grew up a budding artist with a penchant for the Northern soul craze then sweeping the north of England, obsessively collecting Tamla and Stax singles.
—Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2025
Marissa Meador, IndyStar, 23 Oct. 2025
Born and raised in a working class family in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen exploded in stardom after being a local musician at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
—Stylecaster Editors, StyleCaster, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Noun
The son of a Wesleyan minister, Maunder had attended King’s College London, a working-class alternative to Oxford and Cambridge.
—Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
Raised in Blackpool, England, after his adoption into a working-class family, Ball grew up a budding artist with a penchant for the Northern soul craze then sweeping the north of England, obsessively collecting Tamla and Stax singles.
—Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
Democrats see wins in battle for suburbia While some Democratic strongholds buttressed by working class voters have grown redder, the suburbs north of Indianapolis appear to be trending in the opposite direction.
—Marissa Meador, IndyStar, 23 Oct. 2025
Born and raised in a working class family in New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen exploded in stardom after being a local musician at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
—Stylecaster Editors, StyleCaster, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for working-class
Noun
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With these proposals, students from the middle class and wealthy households also are given free lunch.—
DP Opinion,
Denver Post,
28 Oct. 2025
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At the time, Ukraine’s domestic tourism market for the middle class lacked quality, affordable infrastructure.—
Maria Williams,
USA Today,
27 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In 2026, a perfect storm of rising premiums and the expiration of enhanced subsidies that kept costs lower for middle-class families mean many people will face higher bills or be forced to shop around for cheaper plans.—
Berkeley Lovelace Jr,
NBC news,
31 Oct. 2025
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Moore was raised in Cadiz, Ohio, by a middle-class family, per a 1991 report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.—
Caroline Blair,
PEOPLE,
30 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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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
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By then, the preeminent fashion genius of the third quarter of the 20th century and the designer so often credited with inventing the modern woman’s wardrobe had handed prêt-à-porter over to his assistants, who clung as if by commandment to the house dogma of bourgeois Parisian elegance.—
Rob Haskell,
Vogue,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The apology came after a sustained campaign by historians and activists who argued that the victims were persecuted for being poor, vulnerable, or simply different.—
James Frater,
CNN Money,
31 Oct. 2025
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As has Mark Flekken, the new goalkeeper, who moved from Brentford and is fortunate not to have lost his place due to poor form.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Excluding plain water, there’s no other drink that enjoys such a breadth of uses.—
Kate Bernot,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
29 Oct. 2025
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The couple appeared to be wearing matching plain white t-shirts.—
Tommy McArdle,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Working-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/working-class. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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