Phrase guide

social class

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A class of people, based on social power, wealth or another criterion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, sciences, social-science, social-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

people having the same social, economic, or educational status

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the working class
  • an emerging professional class

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: class, stratum, socio-economic class

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: people

Narrower terms: world, domain, age class, agriculture, brotherhood, fraternity, sodality, estate of the realm, estate, the three estates, labor, labour, working class, proletariat, lower class, underclass, middle class, bourgeoisie, booboisie, commonalty, commonality, commons, peasantry, demimonde, underworld, yeomanry, caste, upper class, upper crust, ninja, firing line, immigrant class, center, old school, market, craft, trade, womanhood, woman, fair sex

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: стан (stan) — class of people
  • Catalan: classe social — class of people
  • Chinese Mandarin: 社會階層 /社会阶层 (shèhuì jiēcéng) — class of people
  • Chinese Mandarin: 社會階級 /社会阶级 (shèhuì jiējí) — class of people
  • Dutch: sociale klasse — class of people
  • Finnish: yhteiskuntaluokka — class of people
  • French: classe sociale — class of people
  • Georgian: სოციალური კლასი (socialuri ḳlasi) — class of people
  • German: Gesellschaftsklasse — class of people
  • German: soziale Klasse — class of people
  • Greek: κοινωνική τάξη (koinonikí táxi) — class of people
  • Hindi: ज़ात (zāt) — class of people
  • Hindi: बिरादरी (birādrī) — class of people
  • Hindi: जिनस (jinas) — class of people
  • Hindi: जिंस (jins) — class of people
  • Hindi: कुल (kul) — class of people
  • Hindi: वंश (vañś) — class of people
  • Hindi: बंस (bans) — class of people
  • Italian: rango — class of people
  • Italian: classe sociale — class of people
  • Japanese: 階級 (kaikyū) — class of people
  • Māori: papapori — class of people
  • Norwegian Bokmål: samfunnsklasse — class of people
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: samfunnsklasse — class of people
  • Polish: klasa społeczna — class of people
  • Portuguese: classe social — class of people
  • Romanian: clasă socială — class of people
  • Russian: сосло́вие (soslóvije) — class of people
  • Spanish: clase social — class of people
  • Spanish: estrato social — class of people
  • Swedish: samhällsklass — class of people
  • Thai: ชั้นชนทางสังคม — class of people
  • Thai: ชนชั้นทางสังคม — class of people
  • Thai: ชั้นสังคม — class of people