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middle class Definition

middle class

noun

the social class between the aristocracy or very wealthy and the lower working class: people in business and the professions, highly skilled workers, well-to-do farmers, etc. are now generally included in the middle class

middle-class Definition

middle-class (-klas′)

adjective

of, having to do with, or characteristic of the middle class: often used variously to connote conventional, smug, materialistic, etc. attitudes

middle-class Synonyms

middle-class

modif.

white-collar, bourgeois, substantial; see common 1, popular 1, 3.

middle class Synonyms

middle class

n.

white-collar class, the rank and file, bourgeoisie, common people; see people 3.

middle class Usage Examples

Adjective modifier

  • white: They tend to be southern, white, middle class, middle-aged and well educated.
middle class Quotes

Nothing could moderate, in the bosom of the great English middle class, their passionate, absorbing, almost blood-thirsty clinging to life.

—Arnold, Matthew

We had intended you to be The next Prime Minister but three: The stocks were sold; the Press was squared; The Middle Class was quite prepared. But as it is!† My language fails! Go out and govern New South Wales!

—Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre

That is the worst thing about being a middle-class woman†you have more knowledge of yourself and the world: you are equipped to make choices, but there are none left to make.

—Lurie, Alison

He was rotund, provincial, resolutely middle-class, studiously ambiguous and sometimes wavering in his opinions.

—McFadden, Robert D(ennis)

Fora Jewish Puritanofthemiddleclass,thenovel isserious, the novel is work, the novel is conscientious applicationö why,thenovelispractically theretailbusinessalloveragain.

—Nemerov, Howard

The silver-haired, pipe-smoking northerner was a consummate British politician: tenacious, shrewd, manipulative, a blend of homespun tastes, acid wit and pragmatic, often shifting policies†the symbol of an emerging middle-class Briton. McGonagall

—McFadden, Robert D(ennis)

A moderately honest man with a moderately faithful wife, moderate drinkers both, in a moderately healthy house: that is the true middle-class unit.

—Shaw, George Bernard

I'm one of theundeserving poor†up agen middle-class moralityall the time† What is middle-class morality? Just an excuse for never giving me anything.

—Shaw, George Bernard

We ofthesinking middle class†havenothing to losebut our aitches.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

What foolsmiddle-classgirls are to expect other people to respect the same gods as themselves and E M Forster.

—Drabble, Margaret

If any writer thinks the world is full of middle-class people of nice sensibilities, then he is out of his mind.

—Sharpe,Tom (Thomas Ridley)