Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of the proletariat.
  • noun A member of the proletariat; a worker.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or belonging to the lower classes; hence, mean; vile; vulgar.
  • noun A member of the poorest class of a community; one who is without capital or regular employment.
  • noun Also proletaire.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the proletaries; belonging to the commonalty; hence, mean; vile; vulgar.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or relating to the proletariat.
  • noun A member of the proletariat

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a member of the working class (not necessarily employed)
  • adjective belonging to or characteristic of the proletariat

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin prōlētārius, belonging to the lowest class of Roman citizens (viewed as contributing to the state only through having children), from prōlēs, offspring; see al- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin proletarius ("a man whose only wealth is his offspring, or whose sole service to the state is as father"), from proles ("offspring, posterity")

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