underclass
noun
un·der·class
ˈən-dər-ˌklas 
: the lowest social stratum usually made up of disadvantaged minority groups
Examples of underclass in a Sentence
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One member of the underclass (Jessica Brown Findlay) strives for more by singing for her life on a live TV special, another (Daniel Kaluuya) bursts onto a broadcast to deliver a screed against his overlords; both of their lives get significantly worse as a result of these choices.
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Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
Basic infrastructure is shored up by an immigrant underclass, and the elderly are chained to barges that disappear beneath the sea.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
And even Americans who harbor no prejudice against poor whites tend to misunderstand them, seeing the emergence of a white underclass as a relatively recent phenomenon brought about by deindustrialization, immigration, and globalization.
—Jefferson Cowie, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016
And that there's a permanent underclass that is racially stratified, and that's very hard for people to escape.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2025
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Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
Basic infrastructure is shored up by an immigrant underclass, and the elderly are chained to barges that disappear beneath the sea.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
And even Americans who harbor no prejudice against poor whites tend to misunderstand them, seeing the emergence of a white underclass as a relatively recent phenomenon brought about by deindustrialization, immigration, and globalization.
—Jefferson Cowie, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016
And that there's a permanent underclass that is racially stratified, and that's very hard for people to escape.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 27 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for underclass
Cite this Entry
“Underclass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/underclass. Accessed 27 Apr. 2025.
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