as in middle class
the class of people who earn money by doing usually physical work and who are not rich or powerful
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
as in middle-class
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of working-class
Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 July 2025
Born in 1935 in Modena into a working-class family — his father was a baker, while his mother worked in a cigar factory — Pavarotti developed a passion for opera as a child thanks to his father, an amateur tenor.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 31 July 2025
Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2025
Throughout his life, Franklin advocated educational opportunities for working classes as well as the upper class.
—Time, 1 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Noun
The wildfires that destroyed Lahaina in 2023 left many working-class families homeless, while developers rushed in to snap up properties—often at the expense of Native Hawaiian communities, who were disproportionately affected.
—Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 July 2025
Born in 1935 in Modena into a working-class family — his father was a baker, while his mother worked in a cigar factory — Pavarotti developed a passion for opera as a child thanks to his father, an amateur tenor.
—Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 31 July 2025
Adjective
Solid working class, my dad often worked two, sometimes even three, tough physical jobs to support his large family.
—Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 11 July 2025
Throughout his life, Franklin advocated educational opportunities for working classes as well as the upper class.
—Time, 1 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for working-class
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
For decades, American culture has pushed college as the only path to middle-class prosperity while stigmatizing manual labor as somehow lesser work.—
Tim Bajarin,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
However, the quality of the product is sometimes, notably, poorer.—
Julia Gomez,
USA Today,
4 Aug. 2025
-
In the dining room of The Brother Benno Center, a refuge for the area’s poor and homeless, more than 100 people gathered recently to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Rev. Charles Wright, who has been a spiritual guide there for four decades.—
Linda Mcintosh,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
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
-
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 15 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share