Proletariat refers to the socialrelating to society or groups of people living together class made up of people who work for wagesmoney paid regularly for doing a job, especially manualdone with the hands rather than with machines or office work workers. It is often used in political, historical, or sociological writing.
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: accurate. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.
Pronunciation
AI-generated pronunciation audio (OpenAI).
Accent: General American English
IPA: /proh-lih-TAIR-ee-uht/
Easy pronunciation: proh-lih-TAIR-ee-uht (approximate spelling).
Stress: Primary stress is on the third syllable: TAR.
Refers to the social class of wage-earning or manual workers.
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: inaccurate — correction needed. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.
Proletariat Meaning
working people as a social class
Part of speech: noun
Definition: the social class of people who work for wages, especially manual workers
Example: The factory owners depended on the proletariat for cheap labor.
Synonyms for this meaning:
- working class — A direct, natural substitute for the main sense.
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: accurate. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.
Proletariat Synonyms
Similar Meaning
- working class
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: accurate. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.
Common Mistakes
- Using proletariat to mean any workers in general, rather than a social class.
- Treating labor or labour as direct synonyms in everyday usage when working class is the clearer substitute.
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: accurate. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does proletariat mean?
Proletariat means the social class of people who work for wages, especially manual laborers.
What are the synonyms of proletariat?
The best synonym is working class. Labor and labour are related dictionary terms, but they are not as natural as substitutes in ordinary English.
Is proletariat formal or informal?
It is fairly formal and often appears in political, historical, or academic writing.
Reviewed with OpenAI Decisions. Assessment: accurate. Checked: 2026-10-15. AI assessment; not a guarantee of accuracy.