Meanings
plural working classes
- 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.
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.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC1 more example
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.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 47Synonyms: proletariat
comparative more working class · superlative most working class · usually working-class before noun
- alternativeAlternative spelling of working-class.
Socialism has never and nowhere been at first a working class movement. It is by no means an obvious remedy for an obvious evil which the interests of that class will necessarily demand.
1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 417
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe social class of those who perform physical work for a living, as opposed to the professional or middle class, the upper class, or others.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Afrikaans werkersklas
- werkersklassocial class doing physical work
Arabic اَلطَّبَقَة الْعَامِلَة
- اَلطَّبَقَة الْعَامِلَة (aṭ-ṭabaqa l-ʕāmila)social class doing physical work
Bengali শ্রমিক শ্রেণি
- শ্রমিক শ্রেণি (sromik sreni)social class doing physical work
Bulgarian рабо́тническа кла́са
- рабо́тническа кла́са (rabótničeska klása)social class doing physical work
Chinese Mandarin 工人階級 /工人阶级, 勞動階級 /劳动阶级
- 工人階級 /工人阶级 (gōngrén jiējí)social class doing physical work
- 勞動階級 /劳动阶级 (láodòng jiēji)social class doing physical work
Czech dělnická třída
- dělnická třídasocial class doing physical work
Danish arbejderklasse
- arbejderklassesocial class doing physical work
Dutch arbeidersklasse
- arbeidersklassesocial class doing physical work
Esperanto laboristaro
- laboristarosocial class doing physical work
Estonian töölisklass
- töölisklasssocial class doing physical work
Finnish työväenluokka
- työväenluokkasocial class doing physical work
French classe ouvrière
- classe ouvrièresocial class doing physical work
German Arbeiterklasse
- Arbeiterklassesocial class doing physical work
Greek εργατική τάξη
- εργατική τάξη (ergatikí táxi)social class doing physical work
Hebrew מַעֲמָד הַפּוֹעֲלִים
- מַעֲמָד הַפּוֹעֲלִים (ma'amád ha-po'alím)social class doing physical work
Hindi कामगार वर्ग
- कामगार वर्ग (kāmgār varg)social class doing physical work
Hungarian munkásosztály
- munkásosztálysocial class doing physical work
Icelandic verkalýður, verkalýðsstétt
- verkalýðursocial class doing physical work
- verkalýðsstéttsocial class doing physical work
- verkamannastéttsocial class doing physical work
Indonesian kelas buruh
- kelas buruhsocial class doing physical work
Irish lucht oibre
- lucht oibresocial class doing physical work
Italian classe lavoratrice
- classe lavoratricesocial class doing physical work
Japanese 労働者階級
- 労働者階級 (rōdōsha kaikyū)social class doing physical work
Korean 노동자 계급, 로동자 계급
- 노동자 계급 (nodongja gyegeup)social class doing physical work
- 로동자 계급 (rodongja gyegeup)social class doing physical work
- 노동계급 (nodonggyegeup)social class doing physical work
- 로동계급 (rodonggyegeup)social class doing physical work
Latvian strādnieku šķira
- strādnieku šķirasocial class doing physical work
Lithuanian darbininkų klasė
- darbininkų klasėsocial class doing physical work
Malay kelas pekerja
- kelas pekerjasocial class doing physical work
Norwegian Bokmål arbeiderklasse
- arbeiderklassesocial class doing physical work
Polish klasa robotnicza, klasa pracująca
- klasa robotniczasocial class doing physical work
- klasa pracującasocial class doing physical work
Portuguese classe trabalhadora, classe operária
- classe trabalhadorasocial class doing physical work
- classe operáriasocial class doing physical work
- proletariadosocial class doing physical work
Romanian clasa muncitoare
- clasa muncitoaresocial class doing physical work
Russian рабо́чий класс
- рабо́чий класс (rabóčij klass)social class doing physical work
Scottish Gaelic clas-obrach
- clas-obrachsocial class doing physical work
Slovak robotnícka trieda
- robotnícka triedasocial class doing physical work
Spanish clase obrera, clase trabajadora
- clase obrerasocial class doing physical work
- clase trabajadorasocial class doing physical work
Swedish arbetarklass
- arbetarklasssocial class doing physical work
Tagalog uring manggagawa
- uring manggagawasocial class doing physical work
Thai ชนชั้นแรงงาน
- ชนชั้นแรงงาน (chon-chán-rɛɛng-ngaan)social class doing physical work
Turkish işçi sınıfı
- işçi sınıfısocial class doing physical work
Ukrainian робітни́чий клас
- робітни́чий клас (robitnýčyj klas)social class doing physical work
Urdu مَزْدُور طَبَقَہ
- مَزْدُور طَبَقَہ (mazdūr tabaqa)social class doing physical work
Vietnamese giai cấp công nhân, giai cấp vô sản
- giai cấp công nhânsocial class doing physical work
- giai cấp vô sảnsocial class doing physical work
Welsh dosbarth gweithiol
- dosbarth gweithiolsocial class doing physical work
Yiddish אַרבעטער־קלאַס
- אַרבעטער־קלאַס (arbeter-klas)social class doing physical work
Cite this entry
working class. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/working%20class
“working class.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/working%20class. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “working class,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/working%20class.
Source: working class on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.