working class

Definitions

The social class of those who perform physical work for a living, as opposed to the professional or middle class, the upper class, or others.

Equivalents

Examples

“And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule⟳ them, not pamper them.”

“It may seem that the Met was a snobbish outfit, a betrayer of the egalitarian dreams of Charles Pearson, but in being one of the pioneers of working men's fares the company had helped to bring⟳ about a revolution that would allow⟳ the working classes to live⟳ in London. Cheap trains would supersede Gladstone's well-meant Parliamentary Trains.”

CEFR level