underclass

noun

un·​der·​class ˈən-dər-ˌklas How to pronounce underclass (audio)
: the lowest social stratum usually made up of disadvantaged minority groups

Examples of underclass in a Sentence

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The director never sugarcoats life in the Big Apple for Lu, his family, nor for the rest of the striving migrant underclass. Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 27 May 2025 Not only was the city more heavily Shia than at any time in its long history, but the movement’s underclass supporters had also grown as a percentage of that Shia majority, and expanded territorially as well. Nicholas Krohley, Foreign Affairs, 26 Aug. 2015 This would end up creating a vulnerable, exploitable and marginalized underclass as bad or worse than under the Jim Crow legislation that denied civil liberties and rights to Blacks in this country. Thomas Wenski, Sun Sentinel, 20 May 2025 His writing launched a latter-day focus by successive popes on the underclasses, capitalism and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few. Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for underclass

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of underclass was in 1918

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Cite this Entry

“Underclass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underclass. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.

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