leveller
leveller — noun
- levellersingular
- levellersplural
1. something that touches people from every group or social rank in exactly the sam
something that touches people from every group or social rank in exactly the same way, so that for a moment nobody is more important than anyone else.
Many writers have called death the great leveller, since it comes to rich and poor alike.
fixed phrase: the great leveller
On the football pitch, mud is a true leveller, slowing the fastest players to a crawl.
subject is an inanimate force that erases rank
The power cut acted as a leveller, leaving every flat in the building dark and cold.
A long queue at the clinic is a leveller, where a judge waits beside a cleaner.
Heavy rain was the leveller at the village fair, soaking guests of every age and rank.
文法句型
the great leveller
用法筆記
Most often used in the fixed phrase 'the great leveller', and the subject is usually an impersonal force (death, weather, illness) rather than a person.
2. a person who argues that differences of wealth, class, or political power betwee
a person who argues that differences of wealth, class, or political power between people should be removed so that everyone is treated as equal.
Hassan was a lifelong leveller who believed every farmer deserved the same vote as a lord.
person + believed/argued for equal rights
The young leveller stood on a crate and demanded that landowners share the common fields.
Critics mocked the levellers, claiming that wiping out rank would only breed disorder.
As a leveller, Élise wrote pamphlets calling for equal pay and an end to inherited titles.
The old soldier became a leveller, arguing that no one was born to rule another.
- egalitarian
more modern and neutral; the standard word today
- radical
broader; not specifically about equality
- elitist
favours rule by a privileged few
用法筆記
Often capitalised as 'Leveller' when naming the seventeenth-century English movement; lower-case for the general political sense. Distinguish from sense 1, which is a force, not a person.