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Look, there is a sort of old view about class which is a very simplistic view that we have got the working class, the middle class and the upper class, I think it is more complicated than that.
Ed Miliband

Meaning of "upper class" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF UPPER CLASS

upper class play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF UPPER CLASS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Upper class can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES UPPER CLASS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

upper class

Upper class

The upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of the wealthiest members of society, who also wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is generally contained within the wealthiest 1-2% of the population, and is distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. This popular definition is at odds, however, with how the upper class views itself: as members of families that have been long distinguished not merely by wealth or fame which are ostensibly available to all in a democratic society but rather by generations of leadership in public service, education, charity, the military, and the arts. Because the upper classes of a society may no longer rule the society in which they are living they are often referred to as the old upper classes and they are often culturally distinct from the newly rich middle classes that tend to dominate public life in modern social democracies.

Definition of upper class in the English dictionary

The first definition of upper class in the dictionary is the class occupying the highest position in the social hierarchy, esp the wealthy or the aristocracy. Other definition of upper class is of or relating to the upper class. Upper class is also of or relating to the junior or senior classes of a college or high school.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE UPPER CLASS

upper arm
upper atmosphere
Upper Austria
upper back
upper body
Upper Canada
upper case
upper chamber
upper circle
upper classes
upper crust
upper deck
Upper Egypt
upper hand
upper house
upper income bracket
upper jaw
Upper Karoo
upper lip

WORDS THAT END LIKE UPPER CLASS

business class
class
club class
first class
first-class
form class
glass
gym class
high-class
master class
masterclass
middle class
middle-class
second class
second-class
subclass
top-class
upper-class
working class
working-class
world-class

Synonyms and antonyms of upper class in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «UPPER CLASS»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «upper class» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of upper class

Translation of «upper class» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF UPPER CLASS

Find out the translation of upper class to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of upper class from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «upper class» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

上层阶级
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

clase alta
570 millions of speakers

English

upper class
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

उच्च वर्ग
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الطبقة العليا
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

высший класс
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

classe alta
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

উচ্চ শ্রেণী
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

haute
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

kelas atasan
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Oberschicht
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

上流階級
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

상류층
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Kelas dhuwur
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tầng lớp thượng lưu
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

மேல் வர்க்கம்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

उच्च वर्ग
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

üst sınıf
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

ceti alti
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

klasa wyższa
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

вищий клас
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

clasa de sus
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ανώτερη τάξη
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

boonste klas
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

överklass
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

overklasse
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of upper class

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «UPPER CLASS»

The term «upper class» is quite widely used and occupies the 37.649 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
83
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «upper class» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of upper class
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «upper class».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «UPPER CLASS» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «upper class» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «upper class» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about upper class

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «UPPER CLASS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word upper class.
1
Jimmy Cliff
I would love to see no more ghettos, but the things is, there's no diplomacy in the ghetto. They want to tell you something, they tell you straight! An upper class, more educated person - they find a diplomatic way to tell you the thing. I love it when you just come heart to heart. That's the way I knew it coming up, so that's the way I like it.
2
Christopher Eccleston
I love my accent, I thought it was useful in Gone In 60 Seconds because the standard villain is upper class or Cockney. My Northern accent would be an odd clash opposite Nic Cage.
3
Joseph Epstein
The decisive moment in the defeat of upper class, capital-S, Society may have come when, in newspapers all over the nation, what used to be call the Society page was replaced by the Style section.
4
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
I would not say that George Bush doesn't care about people at all. I think that his loyalties are to the upper class.
5
Erland Josephson
I am of the international upper class, the Swedish petit bourgeoisie of Jewish extraction with poor language skills, a conveyor of a few expressions and faces, with some intonation that combines ancient human experience with timely coquetry.
6
Joel Kinnaman
For somebody in my neighborhood to aspire or revere a person from the upper class, that is the most ugly and pathetic behavior you could exhibit.
7
Ed Miliband
Look, there is a sort of old view about class which is a very simplistic view that we have got the working class, the middle class and the upper class, I think it is more complicated than that.
8
Orhan Pamuk
Istanbul is a vast place. There are very conservative neighbourhoods, there are places that are upper class, Westernised, consuming Western culture.
9
George Sanders
People of Wealth and the so called upper class suffer the most from boredom.
10
Scott Turow
I grew up on the north side of Chicago, in West Rogers Park, an overwhelmingly Jewish neighborhood. When I was 13, my parents moved to Winnetka, Illinois, an upper class, WASPy suburb where Jews - as well as Blacks and Catholics - were unwelcome on many blocks. I suffered the spiritual equivalent of whiplash.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «UPPER CLASS»

Discover the use of upper class in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to upper class and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There
In his bestselling work of "comic sociology," David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today's upper class -- those who have wed the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise to the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture.
David Brooks, 2010
2
Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American ...
An analysis of where the American upper classes live and take their vacations.
Stephen Richard Higley, 1995
3
Our Kind of People
An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black elite by a member of this hard-to-penetrate group.
Lawrence Otis Graham, 2009
4
Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class
This proper Philadelphia story starts with the city's golden age at the close of the eighteenth century.
Edward Digby Baltzell, 1989
5
Above Stairs: Social Life in Upper-class Victoria, 1843-1918
In Above Stairs, get to know the the Douglases, the Pembertons, the Skinners, the Creases, the O'Reillys, the Trutches, the Rithets and the Barnards.
Valerie Green, 2011
6
The Old Upper Class - Britain's Aristocracy
Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2.0 (B), University of Osnabruck (Anglistics), 14 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In ...
Victoria Krummel, 2008
7
Class in America: Q-Z
Some scholars use the terms upper class and elite interchangeably, whereas others argue that the latter is an even more select subgroup (or "overclass") that commands even greater power and wealth. Identifying the upper class illustrates  ...
Robert E. Weir, 2007
8
Down to Earth Sociology: 14th Edition: Introductory ...
They vitally affect our ideas of the world—and of our place in it. FROM A CLASS PERSPECTIVE , the American upper class ex- hibits a class solidarity derived from the group awareness that they share a common fate. They consider one ...
James M. Henslin, 2007
9
Betty Ann Tittle Tattle Reproduces the Upper Class: Gender ...
This paper examines the role that elite women played in class reproduction in Kansas City between 1924-1934 through an examination of 40 issues of the elite women's magazine, The Independent.
Nicole Perry, 2008
10
The Egyptian upper class between revolutions, 1919-1952
A detailed social and historical portrait of the Egyptian upper class in the first half of the twentieth century.
Magda Baraka, St. Antony's College (University of Oxford). Middle East Centre, 1998

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «UPPER CLASS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term upper class is used in the context of the following news items.
1
What your music taste reveals about your social status
With its roots in the impoverished streets of Jamaica, it might not seem like the music of choice for the upper classes, but research has found enjoying reggae is a ... «Daily Mail, Jun 15»
2
The Ruling Class, Trafalgar Studios, review: 'McAvoy's performance …
At the performance I attended of The Ruling Class the tickets were selling for just ... of Peter Barnes's riotously funny-peculiar assault on the English upper class ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jan 15»
3
In Upper Class, Sleep Like a Baby in a Virgin Atlantic Onesie
In a first for the airline industry, Virgin Atlantic has collaborated with onesie designers, OnePiece, to trial a limited-edition OnePiece onesie for Upper Class ... «Sleep Review, Jun 14»
4
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class staff to sport Google Glass to improve …
Virgin Atlantic staff are to don Google Glass wearable tech so that they can give customers a more personalised service, including greeting Upper Class ... «Marketing, Feb 14»
5
10 teams poised to break into college football's upper class
With no draft and the closest thing to a salary cap an 85-scholarship limit, there can only be so much parity in college football. Hence the class system that has ... «USA TODAY, Aug 13»
6
Why Americans All Believe They Are 'Middle Class'
Contrasting databases of text from U.S. and UK sources, we find that Brits use “upper class” and “lower class” more readily; we prefer “wealthy” and “poor. «The Atlantic, Aug 13»
7
Being In the Middle Class Means Worrying About Falling Behind
Asked to define their class status on a 5-point scale, just 2 percent identified themselves as upper class and 12 percent as upper-middle class. «National Journal, Apr 13»
8
A Third of Americans Now Say They Are in the Lower Classes
Only half (51%) say that hard work brings success, a view expressed by overwhelming majorities of those in the middle (67%) and upper classes (71%). «Pew Social and Demographic Trends, Sep 12»
9
Most Americans say rich should pay more taxes, according to new …
Even among those who describe themselves as "upper class" or "upper middle class," more than half -- or 52 percent -- said upper-income Americans don't pay ... «CBS News, Aug 12»
10
Did the 'Lost' Middle Class Become Upper Class?
The prevailing narrative of wealth in the United States today is that the rich are gaining at the expense of everyone else – especially the middle class. Headlines ... «CNBC.com, Aug 12»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Upper class [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/upper-class>. Apr 2024 ».
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