释义 |
the great unwashed ThesaurusNoun | 1. | the great unwashed - the common people generally; "separate the warriors from the mass"; "power to the people"hoi polloi, masses, multitude, people, massgroup, grouping - any number of entities (members) considered as a unitlaity, temporalty - in Christianity, members of a religious community that do not have the priestly responsibilities of ordained clergyaudience - the part of the general public interested in a source of information or entertainment; "every artist needs an audience"; "the broadcast reached an audience of millions"followers, following - a group of followers or enthusiasts |
the great unwashed
the great unwashedThe general public, especially those of the lower and lower-middle classes. Critics are hailing the film as a modern masterpiece, though it doesn't seem to be causing too great a stir among the great unwashed The world of the super rich is one that we among the great unwashed can't even begin to understand.See also: great, unwashedthe great unwashedFig. the general public; the lower middle class. The Simpsons had a tall iron fence around their mansion—put there to discourage the great unwashed from wandering up to the door by mistake, I suppose. Maw says the great unwashed don't know enough to come in out of the rain.See also: great, unwashedthe great unwashed People use the great unwashed to mean poor or ordinary people. A man quickly led the Queen's husband away from the great unwashed. Note: This expression is used humorously. See also: great, unwashedthe great unwashed n. most of the common people; the hoi polloi. I usually find myself more in agreement with the great unwashed than with the elite. See also: great, unwashedgreat unwashed, theThe working classes. The term showed up in print in the early nineteenth century in Theodore Hook’s The Parson’s Daughter (1833), where it appears in quotation marks. Exactly who first coined the phrase is not known, but in Britain it was used to describe the rabble of the French Revolution who rose up against the privileged classes. Although Eric Partridge said that its snobbishness had made it obsolescent by the 1940s, it is still used ironically.See also: greatGreat UnwashedA disparaging term for the common man. The phrase first appeared in an 1830 novel, Paul Clifford, by the British novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “He is certainly a man who bathes and ‘lives cleanly,' (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).” Among other cynics (although they would call themselves realists) who used the phrase was H. L. Mencken, who also referred to the majority of Americans as the “booboisie.”See also: great, unwashedAcronymsSeeTGUthe great unwashed
Synonyms for the great unwashednoun the common people generallySynonyms- hoi polloi
- masses
- multitude
- people
- mass
Related Words- group
- grouping
- laity
- temporalty
- audience
- followers
- following
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