English Explanatory Dictionary

proletariat

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
  2. 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. The lowest class of citizens, who had no property and few rights, and were regarded as contributing only their offspring to the state.

Pronunciation

/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/ prō'lĭ-târʹē-ət /ˌpɹoʊ.lɪˈtɛɚ.i.ət/ En-ca-proletariat.oga

Word forms

proletariat proletariats proletariate

Etymology

Borrowed from French prolétariat, from prolétaire + -at, from Latin proletārius, from prōlēt- (“offspring”) + -ārius, from stem of prōlēs, from pro- + *olēs (“growth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”). By surface analysis, Latin prōlēt- + -ary + -at.

Synonyms

proletary proletarian prole

Antonyms

bourgeoisie

Related words

proles proletaire proletairism proletarian proletarianisation proletarianization proletarianise proletarianize proletarianism proletarianly proletarisation proletarization proletarised proletarized proletarise proletarize proletary proletkult prolicidal prolicide

Derived words

cognitariat commentariat cyberproletariat cybertariat dictatorship of the proletariat militariat neo-proletariat precariat prole proprietariat protoproletariat semiproletariat subproletariat welfariat
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