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upper classes
" The nearest we have to a Henry James or an Edith Wharton of the East Coast's Wasp upper classes."
Charlotte Curtis

Meaning of "upper classes" in the English dictionary

DICTIONARY

PRONUNCIATION OF UPPER CLASSES

ˈʌpə ˈklɑːsɪz


GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF UPPER CLASSES

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Upper classes is a noun.
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.

WHAT DOES UPPER CLASSES MEAN IN ENGLISH?

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.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH UPPER CLASSES

courses · curses · eyeglasses · Forces · glasses · greasies · horses · human-resources · loosies · nkosis · pieces · praeses · resources · sunglasses

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE UPPER CLASSES

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

WORDS THAT END LIKE UPPER CLASSES

aviator glasses · blackstrap molasses · chattering classes · classes · compasses · dark glasses · field glasses · first-aid classes · gasses · gold-rimmed glasses · granny glasses · losses · lower classes · masses · molasses · opera glasses · pair of compasses · prescription glasses · reading glasses · see through rose-coloured glasses · the masses

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

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «UPPER CLASSES»

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

Translation of «upper classes» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR

TRANSLATION OF UPPER CLASSES

Find out the translation of upper classes to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of upper classes 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 classes» in English.
zh

Translator English - Chinese

上层阶级
1,325 millions of speakers
es

Translator English - Spanish

clases altas
570 millions of speakers
en

English

upper classes
510 millions of speakers
hi

Translator English - Hindi

उच्च वर्गों
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

الطبقات العليا
280 millions of speakers
ru

Translator English - Russian

Высшие классы
278 millions of speakers
pt

Translator English - Portuguese

classes superiores
270 millions of speakers
bn

Translator English - Bengali

উপরের শ্রেণীর
260 millions of speakers
fr

Translator English - French

classes supérieures
220 millions of speakers
ms

Translator English - Malay

Kelas atas
190 millions of speakers
de

Translator English - German

oberen Klassen
180 millions of speakers
ja

Translator English - Japanese

上流階級
130 millions of speakers
ko

Translator English - Korean

상류층
85 millions of speakers
jv

Translator English - Javanese

Kelas ndhuwur
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tầng lớp thượng lưu
80 millions of speakers
ta

Translator English - Tamil

மேல் வகுப்புகள்
75 millions of speakers
mr

Translator English - Marathi

उच्च वर्ग
75 millions of speakers
tr

Translator English - Turkish

üst tabaka
70 millions of speakers
it

Translator English - Italian

classi superiori
65 millions of speakers
pl

Translator English - Polish

klasy wyższe
50 millions of speakers
uk

Translator English - Ukrainian

вищі класи
40 millions of speakers
ro

Translator English - Romanian

clasele superioare
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ανώτερες τάξεις
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

boonste klasse
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

överklassen
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

overklasse
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of upper classes

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «UPPER CLASSES»

Principal search tendencies and common uses of upper classes
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «upper classes».

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

EXAMPLES

3 QUOTES WITH «UPPER CLASSES»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word upper classes.
1
Charlotte Curtis
The nearest we have to a Henry James or an Edith Wharton of the East Coast's Wasp upper classes.
2
Toni Morrison
Everybody gets everything handed to them. The rich inherit it. I don't mean just inheritance of money. I mean what people take for granted among the middle and upper classes, which is nepotism, the old-boy network.
3
John Sergeant Wise
It is true, there was no public-school system, and the reason for it was very plain. The wealth of the upper classes enabled them to have private tutors.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «UPPER CLASSES»

Discover the use of upper classes in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to upper classes and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Examples of Arithmetic and Mensuration ... for the upper ...
William EASTON (Schoolmaster, Hereford.) EXAMPLES IN ARITHMETIC MENSURATION; CHIEFLY INTENDED FOR THE UPPER CLASSES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL& BY _ WILLIAM EASTONL _/; MASTER OF THE SCUDAMOBE ...
William EASTON (Schoolmaster, Hereford.), 1859
2
Philosophical Questions, selected for the use of the upper ...
PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONQ SELECTED FOR THE USE OF THE UPPER CLASSES I' BERKHA MSTED SCHOOL : AND Extracted chiefly s rom Lecturu introductory to the Doctrine of Matter in general. Milimdlxsoocigxicst quo juZitZr ...
Ralph HARTLEY, 1797
3
Useful Synonyms Exemplified for the Middle and Upper Classes ...
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process.
Robert J. Jackson, 2008
4
White Collar: The American Middle Classes
This landmark volume demonstrates how the conditions and styles of middle class life--originating from elements of both the newer lower and upper classes--represent modern society as a whole.
C. Wright Mills, 2002
5
The Old Upper Class - Britain's Aristocracy
WHO BELONGS TO BRITAIN'S ARISTOCRACY AND TO THE UPPER CLASSES ? If we speak about the aristocracy today we refer to those approximately 7,000 people and their families who have got the claim to one of the hereditary titles.
Victoria Krummel, 2008
6
AS PE for AQA
They were able to ensure that political decisions reflected their interests rather than the interests of the upper classes alone. They were striving to create a society based on merit and personal achievement rather than one based on privileged ...
Nesta Wiggins-James, Rob James, Graham Thompson, 2005
7
Worlds Apart: Collective Action in Simulated Agrarian and ...
The upper classes can handle new tasks more easily within an existing organizational framework, while lower classes need to change their group organization (at least in terms of leadership) in order to meet the new contingencies created by ...
R.L. Dukes, 1990
8
Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American ...
He wrote: As a selection and training place of the upper classes, both old and new, the private school is a unifying influence, a force for the nationalization of the upper classes. The less important the pedigreed family becomes in the careful ...
Stephen Richard Higley, 1995
9
Sport Histories: Figurational Studies in the Development of ...
Yet what is important for understanding the early development of motor racing in France and not in Britain is the extent to which parliamentarization, and the balance of political power within Britain, enabled the landed upper classes to remain ...
Eric Dunning, Dominic Malcolm, Ivan Waddington, 2004
10
Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970
This did not distance it from the upper classes because they were doing just the same. Something similar could also be said of marital relations. A monarchy responsive to middle–class family values had existed only spasmodically in modern ...
Brian Harrison, 2009

6 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «UPPER CLASSES»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term upper classes is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Parlez-vous prole? Why the upper classes use mockney accents
... A Complete Introduction, has pin-pointed the physical features of this: “One mobile feature is the labiodental approximant - where the lower lip and upper teeth ... «Telegraph.co.uk, May 15»
2
College For The Masses? (So Say The Upper Classes)
At Yale Law School, while students who were serious about a career in the law pursued positions at the Law Review, I got involved with the Law Revue – the ... «Forbes, Apr 15»
3
Segregation by income in Houston is among the starkest in US
The more income inequality there is, the more the upper classes live in a different world and in a different reality than the poor kids or the middle-class kids.". «Houston Chronicle, Aug 12»
4
Upper classes 'more likely to lie and cheat'
In contrast, members of the "lower" classes appeared more likely to display the ... It suggests that the traditional notion of the upper class “cad” or “bounder” could ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Feb 12»
5
Lower classes quicker to show compassion in the face of suffering
By comparison, the UC Berkeley study found that individuals in the upper middle and upper classes were less able to detect and respond to the distress signals ... «UC Berkeley, Dec 11»
6
Upper classes really do look down their noses at the rest of us
It has long been widely believed that the upper class look down on the middle and lower classes. Now science has established that this is literally, as well as ... «The Independent, Mar 11»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Upper classes [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/upper-classes>. Jun 2026 ».
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