as in poor
belonging to the class of people of middle social or economic rank
She grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, as did most of her classmates.
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Dissimilar Words
as in working class
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of middle-class
Chris Gethard, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2026
Thus, money will flow away from these lower-income districts to a broad swath of middle-class districts in Brooklyn and Queens.
—Ray Domanico, Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2026
Sacramento Bee Staff, Sacbee.com, 8 Jan. 2026
The smaller the budget, the more enforcement will fall on the middle class.
—Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for middle-class
Adjective
What happened in the process was that all of those middle-class platforms were told Facebook was the place where things would spread.
—Noun
Shifting the tax burden from the wealthy — from billionaires to small businesses, farmers, the middle class.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for middle-class
Adjective
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Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.—
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In recent games, KU’s communication has been pretty poor on defense and that’s led to players taking (and too often missing) wide-open 3-pointers.—
Noun
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According to his website, he was raised in a working class family that lived in Gallatin and Pendleton counties.—
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This, together with the fragmented working class and weak community roots of Lindsay’s liberalism, left the city unable to fight the wave of neoliberal austerity measures that faced the city.—
Adjective
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The daughter of an engineer, she was raised in a cultured bourgeois household in the affluent 16th arrondissement and studied ballet at the Conservatoire de Paris.—
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At the height of a cinema career that spanned some 28 films and three marriages, Bardot came to symbolize a nation bursting out of bourgeois respectability.—
Noun
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There are things to satirize, trouble, and celebrate about the Black bourgeoisie.—
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Its leaders sanctioned the mass appropriation of lands from the nobility and their distribution to smaller farmers and the urban bourgeoisie.—
Adjective
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This simple design works well once the engine is already moving very fast.—
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Do this simple test to find out if your soil is ready.—
Adjective
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Behind the classy presentation is a working-class spirit, one that honors the simplicity of showing up, being yourself and doing your job.—
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Anything to help him, with his working-class family background, blend in at USC.—
Cite this Entry
“Middle-class.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/middle-class. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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