Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or belonging to the lowest or poorest class of people; pertaining to those who are dependent on daily or casual employment for support; proletarian.
- noun A common person; one belonging to the lower orders.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Rom. Antiq.) A citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
proletarian .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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At the dawn of an October day in 1827 a young fellow about sixteen years of age, whose clothing proclaimed what modern phraseology so insolently calls a proletary, was standing in a small square of Lower
The Celibates Honor�� de Balzac 1824
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Of the latter I shall have better occasion to speak when we come to our provincial orbs; the former divided the whole people by tribes, amounting, as Livy and Cicero show, at their full growth to thirty-five, and every tribe by the sense or valuation of estates into five classes: for the sixth being proletary, that is the nursery, or such as through their poverty contributed nothing to the commonwealth but children, was not reckoned nor used in arms.
The Commonwealth of Oceana James Harrington 1644
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For a proletary (non-taxpayer whose fortune is rated at less than a freeholder's) any one who shall be willing shall be surety (_vindex_).
The Twelve Tables Anonymous
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I wish with all my heart that I were an awakening proletary and stood in the dawn of day; but I am nevertheless glad because my eyes will be closed by the new in you.
Pelle the Conqueror — Complete Martin Andersen Nex�� 1911
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I wish with all my heart that I were an awakening proletary and stood in the dawn of day; but I am nevertheless glad because my eyes will be closed by the new in you.
Pelle the Conqueror — Volume 04 Martin Andersen Nex�� 1911
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By temperament and education of a conservative turn, I saw the last years of that quaint Arcadia which French travellers saw with delighted amazement a century ago, and have watched the change (to me a sad one) from an agricultural to a proletary population.
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Some vague sense of this was stirring the dying embers for the proletary as he was climbing the hill to the street of quiet entrances; but he pushed the saving thought aside and chose to call it fanaticism.
The Price Francis Lynde 1893
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It had proved to be such a simple matter, after all: one bold stroke; a tussle, happily bloodless, with the plutocratic dragon whose hold upon his treasure was so easily broken; and presto! the hungry proletary had become himself a power in the world, strong to do good or evil, as the gods might direct.
The Price Francis Lynde 1893
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All this was very nourishing, not to say stimulating, to the starved soul of a proletary.
The Price Francis Lynde 1893
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Thus the complacent, musing upper thought in the mind and on the lips of the proletary as he wended his way through the quiet and well-nigh deserted streets to the older part of the town.
The Price Francis Lynde 1893
qms commented on the word proletary
When feeling depressed and solitary
Recall that our blessing can vary.
Do not make life’s measure
The getting of treasure;
Embrace simple joys of the proletary.
July 27, 2018