lower-class
lower-class — 形容詞
1. describing people, families, or neighbourhoods that have very little money and h
下層階級的
形容收入最低、社會地位最低的人或家庭
describing people, families, or neighbourhoods that have very little money and hold the lowest rank in a country's social order
Maeve grew up in a lower-class family that shared one cramped flat with her cousins.
Maeve 在一個下層階級的家庭長大，和表親們擠在一間狹小的公寓裡。
attributive: lower-class + family/neighbourhood
The new policy aims to help lower-class children attend university without taking on heavy debt.
新政策希望幫助下層階級的孩子上大學，不必揹沉重的學貸。
common collocation: lower-class children / families / households
Hao spent his teenage years in a lower-class neighbourhood on the edge of the city.
Hao 的青少年時期是在城市邊緣一個下層階級的社區度過的。
Many lower-class workers cannot afford to buy a home, even after twenty years of saving.
許多下層階級的工人即使存了二十年的錢，也買不起一間房子。
The author writes powerful stories about lower-class life in industrial towns during the 1950s.
這位作家寫下了 1950 年代工業城鎮裡下層階級生活的有力故事。
- working-class
more neutral; emphasises manual or wage labour rather than poverty
- blue-collar
narrower; refers to manual or industrial workers, not social rank as a whole
- low-income
focuses purely on money; less judgemental about social rank
- upper-class
the highest social rank, traditionally wealthy and inherited
- middle-class
the social group between lower and upper, usually with stable office or professional jobs
文法句型
lower-class + noun
be lower-class
用法筆記
Almost always attributive, placed directly before a noun (lower-class family, lower-class background). Predicative use after 'be' is far less common in modern Taiwan-English coursebooks; learners writing essays should default to the attributive pattern.
常見錯誤
lower-class — 名詞
1. the group of people in a country who sit beneath the middle class on the social
下層階級
社會中收入最低、地位最低的群體
the group of people in a country who sit beneath the middle class on the social ladder, usually with the smallest incomes and least power in society
Sari's grandfather rose from the lower class to become a respected village doctor.
Sari 的祖父從下層階級出身，後來成為村裡受人敬重的醫生。
common pattern: from the lower class to [higher rank]
The novel describes daily struggles among the lower classes in nineteenth-century London.
這部小說描寫了十九世紀倫敦下層階級的日常掙扎。
plural form: the lower classes for groups across regions or eras
Eli says better public schools give the lower class real chances to move up.
Eli 說更好的公立學校能讓下層階級真正有機會向上流動。
During the festival, the lower class and the rich joined the same parade.
節慶期間，下層階級和富人一起加入同一個遊行隊伍。
- the working class
more neutral and self-chosen; many speakers prefer this label today
- the poor
stronger focus on lack of money; less about social rank
- the underclass
narrower and harsher; suggests long-term exclusion from work and services
- the upper class
the wealthiest and most powerful social group
- the middle class
the broad professional group between rich and poor
文法句型
the lower class
the lower classes
用法筆記
Almost always preceded by 'the' (the lower class / the lower classes), behaving like a collective noun. Distinguish from sense lower-class/adjective/1: the adjective modifies a following noun (lower-class family), while this noun refers to the group itself.