proletariat
Syllables: pro·le·ta·ri·atUK/ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/US/ˌpɹoʊ.lɪˈtɛɚ.i.ət/
proletariat noun: the lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
Noun
proletariat (plural proletariats)
- The lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
- Synonyms:
- proletary
- Wage earners collectively; 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”).
- 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.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....
- Synonyms:
- proletarian, proletary, prole
- Antonyms:
- bourgeoisie
- 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
proletariat meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
proletariat in Hindi
- lowest class of society; lower classes of society generally
- सर्वहारा sarvahārā
proletariat in Tamil
- பாட்டாளி வர்க்கம், பாட்டாளி வர்க்கத்தினர்
proletariat in Urdu
- پرولتاریہ
proletariat in Bengali
- lowest class of society; lower classes of society generally
- সর্বহারা śorbohara
More languagesFewer languages
- proletariat in Malayalam
- അദ്ധ്വാനിക്കുന്ന ജനവിഭാഗം, തൊഴിലാളികൾ, തൊഴിലാളിവർഗ്ഗം, കർമ്മകരവർഗ്ഗം
- proletariat in Kannada
- ಕೆಲಸಗಾರರು, ಕೂಲಿಗಾರರು, ಶ್ರಮಜೀವಿಗಳು, ಶ್ರಮಿಕವರ್ಗ
- proletariat in Punjabi
- ਪਰੋਲਤਾਰੀ paroltārī
- proletariat in Gujarati
- સર્વહારા sarvahārā
- proletariat in Arabic
- بْرُولِيتَارِيَا broletāriyā
- proletariat in Malay
- proletariat
- proletariat in Indonesian
- proletariat
- proletariat in Persian
- پرولتاریا poroletâriyâ
- proletariat in Thai
- กรรมาชีพ gam-maa-chîip, ชนชั้นกรรมาชีพ chon-chán gam-maa-chîip
- proletariat in Vietnamese
- giai cấp vô sản
- proletariat in Myanmar
- ပစ္စည်းမဲ့လူတန်းစား paccany:mai.lutan:ca:
Synonyms of proletariat
Antonyms
Forms of proletariat
| plural | proletariats |
|---|---|
| alternative form | proletariate |
Origin of proletariat
Borrowed from French prolétariat, from prolétaire + -at, from Latin proletārius, from prōlēt- (“offspring”) + -ārius, from stem of prōlēs, from pro- + *olēs (“growth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”). By surface analysis, Latin prōlēt- + -ary + -at.
Words formed from proletariat
Phrases with proletariat
Questions about proletariat
- What does proletariat mean?
- Proletariat means the lowest class of society; also, the lower classes of society generally; the masses.
- What is proletariat in Hindi?
- Proletariat in Hindi is सर्वहारा (sarvahārā). See Proletariat meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is proletariat?
- Proletariat is a noun.
- How do you pronounce proletariat?
- Proletariat is pronounced /ˌpɹəʊ.lɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/ (UK).
- What is the plural of proletariat?
- The plural of proletariat is proletariats.
Words near proletariat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: proletariat (page history and authors); proletariat (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); proletariat (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); proletariat (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); proletariat (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪਰੋਲਤਾਰੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); સર્વહારા (Gujarati) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-ca-proletariat.oga.
Cite this entry: “proletariat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/proletariat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.