bourgeois

Everyday

1. Belonging to the middle class, people who have comfortable jobs, homes and money. tree →
2. (informal, often unkind) Too interested in owning things, being respectable and following ordinary middle-class tastes. tree →
3. In history (especially Karl Marx's ideas), the bourgeoisie are the people who own factories and businesses. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons it appears in the French Revolution and in ideas about social class. In everyday adult talk it can be a mocking word for things seen as posh or fussy, often said jokingly («a bit bourgeois, isn't it?»). It tells the reader about class and lifestyle.

Examples

• The bourgeois family lived in a big house in Paris. tree →
• In the story, the bourgeois merchant cared only about money. tree →
• Dad joked that eating olives was very bourgeois. tree →
• The bourgeoisie gained power after the French Revolution. tree →
• Karl Marx wrote about workers and the bourgeoisie. tree →
• She said the fancy coffee shop was too bourgeois for her. tree →

Note

A French word. Said «BOOR-zhwah» (the s is silent). Spelling trap: b-o-u-r-g-e-o-i-s. The group noun is «the bourgeoisie» (boor-zhwah-ZEE). Can sound like an insult, so use it carefully.