working class


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

working class

n.
The socioeconomic class consisting of people who work for wages, especially low wages, including unskilled and semiskilled laborers and their families.
work′ing-class′ adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

working class

n
(Sociology) Also called: proletariat the social stratum, usually of low status, that consists of those who earn wages, esp as manual workers. Compare lower class, middle class, upper class
adj
(Sociology) of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

work′ing class`


n.
1. those persons working for wages, esp. in manual labor.
2. the social or economic class composed of these workers.
[1805–15]
work′ing-class`, adj.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

working class

The class in society that works for wages.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.working class - a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wagesworking class - a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; "there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field"
labor, labour, proletariat
social class, socio-economic class, stratum, class - people having the same social, economic, or educational status; "the working class"; "an emerging professional class"
labor force, labor pool - the source of trained people from which workers can be hired
lumpenproletariat - (Marxism) the unorganized lower levels of the proletariat who are not interested in revolutionary advancement
organized labor - employees who are represented by a labor union
prole, proletarian, worker - a member of the working class (not necessarily employed); "workers of the world--unite!"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
الطَّبَقَه العامِلَه
dělnická třída
arbejderklasse
työväenluokka
radništvo
munkásosztály
verkamannastétt
robotnícka trieda
delavski razred

working class

n → classe f operaia or lavoratrice
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

work

(wəːk) noun
1. effort made in order to achieve or make something. He has done a lot of work on this project
2. employment. I cannot find work in this town.
3. a task or tasks; the thing that one is working on. Please clear your work off the table.
4. a painting, book, piece of music etc. the works of Van Gogh / Shakespeare/Mozart; This work was composed in 1816.
5. the product or result of a person's labours. His work has shown a great improvement lately.
6. one's place of employment. He left (his) work at 5.30 p.m.; I don't think I'll go to work tomorrow.
verb
1. to (cause to) make efforts in order to achieve or make something. She works at the factory three days a week; He works his employees very hard; I've been working on/at a new project.
2. to be employed. Are you working just now?
3. to (cause to) operate (in the correct way). He has no idea how that machine works / how to work that machine; That machine doesn't/won't work, but this one's working.
4. to be practicable and/or successful. If my scheme works, we'll be rich!
5. to make (one's way) slowly and carefully with effort or difficulty. She worked her way up the rock face.
6. to get into, or put into, a stated condition or position, slowly and gradually. The wheel worked loose.
7. to make by craftsmanship. The ornaments had been worked in gold.
-work
1. (the art of making) goods of a particular material. He learns woodwork at school; This shop sells basketwork.
2. parts of something, eg a building, made of a particular material. The stonework/woodwork/paintwork needs to be renewed.
ˈworkable adjective
(of a plan) able to be carried out.
ˈworker noun
1. a person who works or who is employed in an office, a factory etc. office-workers; car-workers.
2. a manual worker rather than an office-worker etc.
3. a person who works (hard etc). He's a slow/hard worker.
works noun singular or plural
a factory etc. The steelworks is/are closed for the holidays.
noun plural
1. the mechanism (of a watch, clock etc). The works are all rusted.
2. deeds, actions etc. She's devoted her life to good works.
ˈwork-basket, ˈwork-box
etc nouns a basket, box etc for holding thread, needlework etc.
ˈworkbook noun
a book of exercises usually with spaces for answers.
ˈworkforce noun
the number of workers (available for work) in a particular industry, factory etc.
working class
the section of society who work with their hands, doing manual labour.
working day, ˈwork-day nouns
1. a day on which one goes to work, and is not on holiday.
2. the period of actual labour in a normal day at work. My working day is eight hours long.
working hours
the times of day between which one is at work. Normal working hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ˈworking-party, ˈwork-party nouns
a group of people gathered together (usually voluntarily) to perform a particular physical task. They organized a work-party to clear the canal of weeds.
working week
the five days from Monday to Friday inclusive when people go to work.
ˈworkman noun
a man who does manual work. the workmen on a building site.
ˈworkmanlike adjective
1. suitable to a good workman. a workmanlike attitude.
2. well performed. a workmanlike job.
ˈworkmanship noun
the skill of a qualified workman; skill in making things.
ˈworkmate noun
one of the people who work in the same place of employment as oneself. Her workmates teased her about being the boss's favourite.
ˈworkout noun
a period of hard physical exercise for the purpose of keeping fit etc.
ˈworkshop noun
1. a room or building, especially in a factory etc where construction and repairs are carried out.
2. a course of experimental work for a group of people on a particular project.
at work
working. He's writing a novel and he likes to be at work (on it) by eight o'clock every morning.
get/set to work
to start work. Could you get to work painting that ceiling?; I'll have to set to work on this mending this evening.
go to work on
to begin work on. We're thinking of going to work on an extension to the house.
have one's work cut out
to be faced with a difficult task. You'll have your work cut out to beat the champion.
in working order
(of a machine etc) operating correctly.
out of work
having no employment. He's been out of work for months.
work of art
a painting, sculpture etc.
work off
to get rid of (something unwanted or unpleasant) by taking physical exercise etc. He worked off his anger by running round the garden six times.
work out
1. to solve or calculate correctly. I can't work out how many should be left.
2. to come to a satisfactory end. Don't worry – it will all work out (in the end).
3. to perform physical exercises.
work up
1. to excite or rouse gradually. She worked herself up into a fury. (adjective ˌworked-ˈup: Don't get so worked-up!).
2. to raise or create. I just can't work up any energy/appetite/enthusiasm today.
work up to
to progress towards and prepare for. Work up to the difficult exercises gradually.
work wonders
to produce marvellous results. These pills have worked wonders on my rheumatism.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
Mentioned in ?
References in classic literature ?
Every Socialist did his share, and lived upon the vision of the "good time coming,"--when the working class should go to the polls and seize the powers of government, and put an end to private property in the means of production.
When a Socialist was elected to office he voted with old party legislators for any measure that was likely to be of help to the working class, but he never forgot that these concessions, whatever they might be, were trifles compared with the great purpose--the organizing of the working class for the revolution.
View in context
In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed, in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working class, developed -- a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital.
Differences of age and sex have no longer any distinctive social validity for the working class. All are instruments of labour, more or less expensive to use, according to their age and sex.
But not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons -- the modern working class -- the proletarians.
View in context
If ever a girl of the working class had led the sheltered life, it was Genevieve.
View in context
South of the Slot were the factories, slums, laundries, machine-shops, boiler works, and the abodes of the working class.
View in context
Now that Martin was aroused in such matters, he swiftly noted the difference between the baggy knees of the trousers worn by the working class and the straight line from knee to foot of those worn by the men above the working class.
View in context
There are wise people who talk ever so knowingly and complacently about "the working classes," and satisfy themselves that a day's hard in- tellectual work is very much harder than a day's hard manual toil, and is righteously entitled to much bigger pay.
View in context
Without television offering a contextualisation of working class culture and values, the middle classes are free to demonise.
TV has helped in the demonisation of the working class
I suggest that the reappearance of such characters also reflects issues of class-mobility in which the dominance of a particular type of masculinity surges forward in an act of class-transition; in the 1950s this is signified by the growing permeability of the class barrier between working class and middle class.
The brute-hero: the 1950s and echoes of the North
sparked a lively academic debate about the political attitudes and voting behavior of the white working class. Frank writes of a "Great Backlash" in which the white working class, once a pillar of the New Deal coalition, left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party as conservatism shifted away from its early emphasis on "fiscal sobriety" toward a more recent emphasis on "explosive social issues" such as abortion and gun control (2004, 8).
What's the matter with the white working class? The effects of union membership in the 2004 presidential election

Dictionary browser ?
Full browser ?