Proletariat

Definitions

1. The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
   also, derogatory, figuratively, often
2. Wage earners collectively; people who own no capital and depend on their labour for survival; the working class, especially when seen as engaged in a class struggle with the bourgeoisie (“the capital-owning class”).
   Marxism
3. The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.
   Ancient-Rome, historical

Equivalents

Examples

“Of all the classes that stand⟳ face⟳ to face⟳ with the bourgeoisie to-day, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear⟳ in the face⟳ of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.”

CEFR level