proletariat

Meaning

1. (also, derogatory, figuratively, often) The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
2. (Marxism) Wage earners collectively; people who own no capital and depend on their labour for survival; the working class, especially when seen as engaged in a class struggle with the bourgeoisie (“the capital-owning class”).
3. (Ancient-Rome, historical) The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.

Opposite of

bourgeoisie

Synonyms

working class

labour

labor

lower classes

the class of wage earners

crew

wage working class

laborer

staff

fourth estate

Translations

proletariado

Proletariat

προλεταριάτο

prolétariat

proletariato

proletariado

proletariaat

proletariat

classe ouvrière

proletarya

εργατική τάξη

classe treballadora

daràluz

Arbeiterklasse

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/

Etymology

From French prolétariat (“proletariats as a class; state of being a proletariat”), from Latin prōlētārius (“belonging to the lowest class of citizens, whose only contribution to the state was their offspring; member of this class”) + French -at (suffix denoting actions or the results of actions). Prōlētārius is derived from prōlēs (“offspring, posterity”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, or forming nouns denoting agents of use from other nouns); prōlēs is from pro- (prefix meaning ‘bringing forth or into being; bringing into the open’) + *olēs (a variant of *oleō (“to grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”)).