Phrase guide

working class

adj · noun · 3 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

adj

Meaning 1

Alternative spelling of working-class.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The social class of those who perform physical work for a living, as opposed to the professional or middle class, the upper class, or others.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proletariat

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: labor, labour, proletariat

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: class, stratum, social class, socio-economic class

Narrower terms: labor force, labor pool, lumpenproletariat, organized labor

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

89 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: werkersklas — social class doing physical work
  • Albanian: klasë punëtore — social class doing physical work
  • Arabic: اَلطَّبَقَة الْعَامِلَة (aṭ-ṭabaqa l-ʕāmila) — social class doing physical work
  • Armenian: բանվոր դասակարգ (banvor dasakarg) — social class doing physical work
  • Azerbaijani: işçi sinfi — social class doing physical work
  • Azerbaijani: işçi təbəqə — social class doing physical work
  • Belarusian: рабо́чы клас (rabóčy klas) — social class doing physical work
  • Belarusian: рабо́чая кля́са (rabóčaja kljása) — social class doing physical work
  • Bengali: শ্রমিক শ্রেণি (sromik sreni) — social class doing physical work
  • Bulgarian: рабо́тническа кла́са (rabótničeska klása) — social class doing physical work
  • Burmese: အလုပ်သမားလူတန်းစား (a.lupsa.ma:lutan:ca:) — social class doing physical work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 工人階級 /工人阶级 (gōngrén jiējí) — social class doing physical work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 勞動階級 /劳动阶级 (láodòng jiēji) — social class doing physical work
  • Czech: dělnická třída — social class doing physical work
  • Danish: arbejderklasse — social class doing physical work
  • Dutch: arbeidersklasse — social class doing physical work
  • Esperanto: laboristaro — social class doing physical work
  • Estonian: töölisklass — social class doing physical work
  • Finnish: työväenluokka — social class doing physical work
  • French: classe ouvrière — social class doing physical work
  • Galician: clase traballadora — social class doing physical work
  • Georgian: მუშათა კლასი (mušata ḳlasi) — social class doing physical work
  • German: Arbeiterklasse — social class doing physical work
  • Greek: εργατική τάξη (ergatikí táxi) — social class doing physical work
  • Hebrew: מַעֲמָד הַפּוֹעֲלִים (ma'amád ha-po'alím) — social class doing physical work
  • Hindi: कामगार वर्ग (kāmgār varg) — social class doing physical work
  • Hungarian: munkásosztály — social class doing physical work
  • Icelandic: verkalýður — social class doing physical work
  • Icelandic: verkalýðsstétt — social class doing physical work
  • Icelandic: verkamannastétt — social class doing physical work
  • Ido: laboristaro — social class doing physical work
  • Indonesian: kelas buruh — social class doing physical work
  • Irish: lucht oibre — social class doing physical work
  • Italian: classe lavoratrice — social class doing physical work
  • Japanese: 労働者階級 (rōdōsha kaikyū) — social class doing physical work
  • Kazakh: жұмысшы табы (jūmysşy taby) — social class doing physical work
  • Khmer: វណ្ណៈពលករ (vannaʼ pŭəlkɑɑ) — social class doing physical work
  • Khmer: វណ្ណៈកម្មករ (vannaʼ kamkɑɑ) — social class doing physical work
  • Korean: 노동자 계급 (nodongja gyegeup) — social class doing physical work
  • Korean: 로동자 계급 (rodongja gyegeup) — social class doing physical work
  • Korean: 노동계급 (nodonggyegeup) — social class doing physical work
  • Korean: 로동계급 (rodonggyegeup) — social class doing physical work
  • Northern Kurdish: çîna karker — social class doing physical work
  • Kyrgyz: жумушчу табы (jumuşcu tabı) — social class doing physical work
  • Lao: ຊົນຊັ້ນແຮງງານ (son san hǣng ngān) — social class doing physical work
  • Lao: ຊົນຊັ້ນກໍາມະກອນ (son san kam ma kǭn) — social class doing physical work
  • Latvian: strādnieku šķira — social class doing physical work
  • Lithuanian: darbininkų klasė — social class doing physical work
  • Macedonian: рабо́тничка кла́са (rabótnička klása) — social class doing physical work
  • Malay: kelas pekerja — social class doing physical work
  • Mongolian: ажилчин анги (ažilčin angi) — social class doing physical work
  • Norwegian Bokmål: arbeiderklasse — social class doing physical work
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: arbeidarklasse — social class doing physical work
  • Occitan: classa obrièra — social class doing physical work
  • Pashto: کارګره طبقه (kārgara tabaqá) — social class doing physical work
  • Iranian Persian: طَبَقِهٔ کارْگَر (tabaġe-ye kârgar) — social class doing physical work
  • Polish: klasa robotnicza — social class doing physical work
  • Polish: klasa pracująca — social class doing physical work
  • Portuguese: classe trabalhadora — social class doing physical work
  • Portuguese: classe operária — social class doing physical work
  • Portuguese: proletariado — social class doing physical work
  • Romanian: clasa muncitoare — social class doing physical work
  • Russian: рабо́чий класс (rabóčij klass) — social class doing physical work
  • Scottish Gaelic: clas-obrach — social class doing physical work
  • Serbo-Croatian: радничка класа — social class doing physical work
  • Serbo-Croatian: ра̑днӣштво — social class doing physical work
  • Serbo-Croatian: radnička klasa — social class doing physical work
  • Serbo-Croatian: rȃdnīštvo — social class doing physical work
  • Slovak: robotnícka trieda — social class doing physical work
  • Slovene: delavski razred — social class doing physical work
  • Upper Sorbian: dźěłaćerska klasa — social class doing physical work
  • Spanish: clase obrera — social class doing physical work
  • Spanish: clase trabajadora — social class doing physical work
  • Swedish: arbetarklass — social class doing physical work
  • Tagalog: uring manggagawa — social class doing physical work
  • Tajik: синфи коргар (sinf-i korgar) — social class doing physical work
  • Tajik: табақаи коргар (tabaqa-yi korgar) — social class doing physical work
  • Tatar: эшче сыйныф (eşçe sıynıf) — social class doing physical work
  • Thai: ชนชั้นแรงงาน (chon-chán-rɛɛng-ngaan) — social class doing physical work
  • Turkish: işçi sınıfı — social class doing physical work
  • Turkmen: işçi synpy — social class doing physical work
  • Ukrainian: робітни́чий клас (robitnýčyj klas) — social class doing physical work
  • Urdu: مَزْدُور طَبَقَہ (mazdūr tabaqa) — social class doing physical work
  • Uyghur: ئىشچىلار سىنىپى (ishchilar sinipi) — social class doing physical work
  • Uzbek: ishchi sinfi — social class doing physical work
  • Vietnamese: giai cấp công nhân — social class doing physical work
  • Vietnamese: giai cấp vô sản — social class doing physical work
  • Welsh: dosbarth gweithiol — social class doing physical work
  • Yiddish: אַרבעטער־קלאַס (arbeter-klas) — social class doing physical work