proletariat
/ˌprəʊlɪˈtɛːrɪət
/(also archaic proletariate)
noun [treated as singular or plural]
1Working-class people regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism): the growth of the industrial proletariat...
- Human history has remained the chronology of struggles between master and servant, have and have nots, between capitalists and proletariats, exploiter and exploited.
- Is it necessary for the peasant classes of agricultural nations to become urban or rural (if such a thing is possible) proletariats before a Socialist Revolution is possible?
- Today, strawberries are grown in all 50 states and enjoyed by people in all walks of life - presidents and proletariats alike.
Synonyms
the workers, working-class people, wage-earners, the labouring classes, the common people, the ordinary people, the lower classes, the masses, the commonalty, the rank and file, the third estate, the plebeians
derogatory the hoi polloi, the plebs, the proles, the great unwashed, the mob, the rabble, the canaille
1.1The lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome.In a similar vein, Champlin argues that celebrations like the banquet of Tigellinus and the canal from Lake Avernus to the Tiber were intended to bring the upper-class delights of Baiae to the urban proletariate of Rome....
- Many flocked to Rome, where they joined the proletariat of propertyless citizens dependent on handouts of free wheat by the state.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from French prolétariat, from Latin proletarius (see proletarian).