Word.ws English Dictionary

plebean

plebean is the obsolete form of plebeian.

Meaning of plebeian

Adjective

plebeian (comparative more plebeian, superlative most plebeian)

  1. (historical) Of or concerning the plebs, the common citizens of ancient Rome.
    • To what purpose be the plebeian Magistrates ordeined?1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure Beautified, Vol. I, Ch. iv, fol. 9 verso
  2. Of or concerning the common people.
    • ...priuate person or plebian multitude...1602, William Watson, A Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions, page 301
  3. Common, particularly (derogatory) vulgar, crude, coarse, uncultured.
    • For to plebeyan wits, it is as good,
      As to be silent, as not vnderstood.1615, Robert Armin, The Valiant Welshman, Vol. i, Ch. i, sig. B

See all 5 meanings of plebeian

Forms of plebean

Adjective
comparativemore plebean
superlativemost plebean
Noun
pluralplebeans

Questions about plebean

What is plebean the obsolete form of?
Plebean is the obsolete form of plebeian.

Words near plebean in the dictionary

  1. plebbier
  2. plebbiest
  3. Plebbit
  4. plebby
  5. plebe
  6. plebean
  7. plebeane
  8. plebeanes
  9. plebeans
  10. plebeian
  11. plebeiance

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plebean (page history and authors); plebeian (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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Cite this entry: “plebean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plebean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.