underclass

English

Etymology

From under- +‎ class.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

underclass (plural underclasses)

1. The poorest class of people in a given society.
   • 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ' Sacha Baron Cohen's vital, venomous action movie'”, in The Daily Telegraph (London):

     The two are immediately caught up in a terrorist plot to rid the earth of its underclass, and this gives Nobby the chance to live out a James Bond fantasy of Englishness, with his own lager-swilling twist.

   • 2019 March 3, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, “When Did Everyone Become a Socialist?”, in New York Magazine‎:

     Still, among New York’s creative underclass — cash poor but culturally potent — it feels like everything but socialism is now irrelevant.

   • 2019 August 12, Derek Thompson, “America's Hot New Job Is Being a Rich Person's Servant”, in The Atlantic‎:

     While there are reasons to be optimistic about this trend, there is also something queasy about the emergence of a new underclass of urban servants.

Derived terms

• underclasser
• underclassness
• underclassperson
• underclasswoman

See also

• subculture

References

• “underclass”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.