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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in working class
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of middle-class
Garth Friesen, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
London’s massive, middle-class Barbican Estate, completed in 1982, created a small city within the city, replete with plazas, a waterway and iconic concrete and brick buildings.
—Michael Allen, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025
Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 21 Feb. 2025
Add in cuts to veterans’ benefits, Social Security disability, food assistance (SNAP) and other programs, and the result is clear: Billions in wealth transferred from the middle class and poor to the rich.
—Darren Soto, Orlando Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Adjective
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration also introduced tax breaks for middle-class households to stimulate consumption, highlighting the government's intent to combine monetary and fiscal measures to reignite growth.
—Garth Friesen, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
London’s massive, middle-class Barbican Estate, completed in 1982, created a small city within the city, replete with plazas, a waterway and iconic concrete and brick buildings.
—Michael Allen, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
Once again, baseball’s veteran middle class is being squeezed.
—Jim Alexander, Orange County Register, 21 Feb. 2025
Add in cuts to veterans’ benefits, Social Security disability, food assistance (SNAP) and other programs, and the result is clear: Billions in wealth transferred from the middle class and poor to the rich.
—Darren Soto, Orlando Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for middle-class
Adjective
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And another research team, using data from 2015 to 2022, observed in an article available in Energy Research and Social Science that poor income distribution correlates with social unrest when fossil fuel subsidies are removed.—
Aldo Flores-Quiroga,
Forbes,
1 Mar. 2025
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Federal workers got commendations, awards, positive reviews – and then were fired for 'poor performance' Taxes are coming.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA TODAY,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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There is no single issue in this country that has affected our economy and working class people and their jobs.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Mar. 2025
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Times are hard for the working class, who must contend with low pay and food shortages.—
Alissa Simon,
Variety,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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There’s plenty such wordplay in The Safe House, to the point that the movie can seem like a caricature of overeducated, perpetually growling Parisians shouting for social change, but too self-centered and comfortable in their bourgeois lifestyles to do anything drastic about it.—
Jordan Mintzer,
The Hollywood Reporter,
21 Feb. 2025
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The social outcast lead is now a Black African (Mamadou Sidibé), action moves to Marseilles and the protagonist is taken in by a suave bourgeois member of the French-Arab community.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
21 Feb. 2025
Noun
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According to theory, words referred not to the world they were tasked with representing but only to other words in a ruthless system where meaning was elusive, reality an illusion and the self a romantic fiction perpetrated by the capitalist bourgeoisie.—
Emily Eakin,
New York Times,
18 Feb. 2025
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Even before the Atlantic City Boardwalk became the iconic scene of the Roaring ‘20s New Jersey bourgeoisie, the Jersey Shore was already increasingly a vacation spot for the wealthy.—
Andrew DePietro,
Forbes,
22 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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But there's a simple—and so easy-to-remember—method that will make the packing process easy every time: the 5-4-3-2-1 method.—
Alesandra Dubin,
Southern Living,
1 Mar. 2025
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Prioritizing fitness amid a busy travel schedule, the former Radio City Rockette and The Talk host says her outlook is simple.—
Meredith Lepore,
Travel + Leisure,
1 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The governor’s office also underscores that Maryland’s standard deduction is only a third of Virginia’s, meaning that some poor and working-class residents who would pay no income tax in Virginia make enough to pay income tax in Maryland.—
Paul Kiefer,
Baltimore Sun,
10 Mar. 2025
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The former governor, a moderate Democrat, is gunning for the same base of working-class, Black outer borough residents that helped Adams win in 2021.—
Josephine Stratman,
New York Daily News,
10 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Middle-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/middle-class. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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