Word.ws English Dictionary

great unwashed

UK/ˌɡɹeɪt ʌnˈwɒʃt//ˌɡɹeɪt ʌnˈwɔːʃt/

great unwashed noun: the general populace, particularly the working class.

Noun

great unwashed pl (plural only)

  1. (derogatory, idiomatic, plural, plural-only) The general populace, particularly the working class.
    • [T]he gentlemen of the inns of court, and the gentlemen of the universities… live in abodes which were erected long before the custom of cleanliness and decency obtained among us. … Gentlemen, there can be but little doubt that your ancestors were the Great Unwashed: and in the Temple especially...1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
    • The Liberal campaign was so carefully orchestrated that McLeod was never in a position to be confronted by the great unwashed. Unfortunately, the great unwashed rarely vote for a leader whom they have never met.1995, Christina Blizzard, Right Turn: How the Tories Took Ontario

Synonyms of great unwashed

19 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Origin of great unwashed

Though attributed by many to Edmund Burke, the first published use of the phrase was by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in a dedicatory epistle for 1830, Paul Clifford.

Questions about great unwashed

What does great unwashed mean?
Great unwashed means the general populace, particularly the working class.
What part of speech is great unwashed?
Great unwashed is a noun.
How do you pronounce great unwashed?
Great unwashed is pronounced /ˌɡɹeɪt ʌnˈwɒʃt/ (UK).

Words near great unwashed in the dictionary

  1. Great Turk
  2. Great Turks
  3. great uncle
  4. great uncles
  5. great unhosed
  6. great unwashed
  7. Great Urswick
  8. Great Vehicle
  9. great vessel
  10. great vessels
  11. Great Vowel Shift

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: great unwashed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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