释义 |
The masses Translationsthe masses
the massesThe general population, especially the common or low-class portion thereof. Usually used to deride those seen as having unrefined tastes or intelligence. I know stupid action flicks like this are made to make money off the masses, but I just can't help but enjoy them. My father always believed religion was simply an opiate for the masses, but I've found true peace and happiness through it.See also: massethe massesThe body of common people, or people of low socioeconomic status, as in TV sitcoms are designed to appeal to the masses. This idiom is nearly always used in a snobbish context that puts down the taste, intelligence, or some other quality of the majority of people. W.S. Gilbert satirized this view in the peers' march in Iolanthe (1882), in which the lower-middle class and the masses are ordered to bow down before the peers. Prime Minister William Gladstone took a different view (Speech, 1886): "All the world over, I will back the masses against the [upper] classes." [First half of 1800s] See also: masse |