proletariat
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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).[1] 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”)).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/
- (General American) enPR: prō'lĭ-târʹē-ət, IPA(key): /ˌpɹoʊ.lɪˈtɛɚ.i.ət/
Audio (Canada): (file) - Hyphenation: pro‧le‧ta‧ri‧at
Noun
proletariat (plural proletariats)
- (often derogatory, also figuratively) The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
- Synonym: proletary
- (Marxism) Wage earners collectively, excluding salaried workers; 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”).
- Synonyms: proletarian, proletary, prole
- Antonym: bourgeoisie
- Coordinate term: salariat
- 1848 February, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels [i.e., Friedrich Engels], “Bourgeois and Proletarians”, in Samuel Moore, transl., Manifesto of the Communist Party. […], 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: National Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party, published 1898, →OCLC, page 27:
- Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie to-day, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.
- (chiefly 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.
- Synonyms: proletarian, proletary
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Related terms
- proles (rare)
- proletaire (archaic)
- proletairism (archaic)
- proletarian
- proletarianisation, proletarianization
- proletarianise, proletarianize
- proletarianism
- proletarianly
- proletarisation, proletarization
- proletarised, proletarized (adjective)
- proletarise, proletarize (rare)
- proletary (archaic)
- proletkult
- prolicidal
- prolicide
Translations
lowest class of society; lower classes of society generally
|
wage-earners collectively
|
lowest class of citizens in Ancient Rome and elsewhere
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References
- “proletariat, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “proletariat, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
proletariat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
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