middle class

US: (mid′l klas′, -kläs′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ˈmid•dle ˈclass, n. [countable]

1. Sociology a class of people intermediate between those of higher and lower economic or social standing.

mid•dle--class, adj.: 

criticizing her parents for their middle-class values.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mid′dle class′, 

1. a class of people intermediate between the classes of higher and lower social rank or standing;
   the social, economic, cultural class, having approximately average status, income, education, tastes, and the like.
2. the class traditionally intermediate between the aristocratic class and the laboring class.
3. Sociology an intermediate class.
• 1760–70

mid•dle-class  (mid′l klas′, -kläs′), adj. 

1. Sociology of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the middle class;
   bourgeois:
   middle-class taste; middle-class morality.

• 1890–95

mid′dle-class′ness, n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

middle class noun

1. Also called: bourgeoisie a social stratum that is not clearly defined but is positioned between the lower and upper classes. It consists of businesspeople, professional people, etc, along with their families, and is marked by bourgeois values
   Compare lower class, upper class, working class

adjective middle-class

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the middle class