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
Bomi Kong, Oc Register, 17 July 2025
These research universities have been informally linked with a broader network of regional state universities and small private colleges that often provide higher education to the public at relatively low cost for middle- and working-class Americans.
—Brian Sandberg, Time, 16 July 2025
Mandalit Del Barco, NPR, 17 May 2025
Following the 2024 election there was much handwringing, pulling of hair, and gnashing of teeth over how the Democratic Party lost the broad working class.
—Nick Gauthier, Hartford Courant, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Noun
Food insecurity will rise as working-class families are forced to choose between healthy food and other essentials.
—Bomi Kong, Oc Register, 17 July 2025
These research universities have been informally linked with a broader network of regional state universities and small private colleges that often provide higher education to the public at relatively low cost for middle- and working-class Americans.
—Brian Sandberg, Time, 16 July 2025
Adjective
But 99% of us who are in production really are your everyday working class folks.
—Mandalit Del Barco, NPR, 17 May 2025
Following the 2024 election there was much handwringing, pulling of hair, and gnashing of teeth over how the Democratic Party lost the broad working class.
—Nick Gauthier, Hartford Courant, 7 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for working-class
Recent Examples of Synonyms for working-class
Noun
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Can the party craft an economic message that speaks to the anxieties of the working and middle class?—
Averi Harper,
ABC News,
21 July 2025
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But most are middle class, and about a third of the charts in his office’s filing cabinets are blue, indicating Medicaid.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
14 July 2025
Adjective
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Urban and middle-class Dominicans looked down on bachata as the music played in brothels and favored by poor, rural people who started to migrate to urban areas in large numbers in the 1960s.—
Wilfredo José Burgos Matos,
The Conversation,
25 July 2025
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According to Suozzi, the Share Holder Allocation for Rewards to Employees (SHARE) Plan Act, when fully implemented, could result in nearly $4 trillion in stock value being transferred to almost 40 million middle-class Americans.—
Laya Neelakandan,
CNBC,
25 July 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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Spurred by climate change, Canadian wildfires have increasingly exacerbated poor air quality across Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin.—
Maia Pandey,
jsonline.com,
24 July 2025
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Of course, poor Michael Landon had passed away way too young.—
Angela Andaloro,
People.com,
23 July 2025
Adjective
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But also take your time in crafting the perfect order of its plain pie — simply tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil — or its white pie — with fresh mozzarella, ricotta, butter, garlic, olive oil and basil.—
Heidi Finley,
Charlotte Observer,
25 July 2025
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Across social media, we’re told drinking plain water is passe, subpar, and incredibly basic.—
Stephanie McNeal,
Glamour,
24 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Working-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/working-class. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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