those persons working for wages, especially in manual labor.
2.
the social or economic class composed of these workers.
Origin
1805-15
Related forms
working-class, adjective
British Dictionary definitions for working class
working class
noun
1.
Also called proletariat. the social stratum, usually of low status, that consists of those who earn wages, esp as manual workers Compare lower class, middle class, upper class
adjective
2.
of, relating to, or characteristic of the working class
working class in Culture
working class definition
In the United States, the population of blue-collar workers, particularly skilled and semiskilled laborers, who differ in values, but not necessarily in income, from the middle class. In Marxism, this term refers to propertyless factory workers.