noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The lowest stratum of the proletariat, whose mental and physical health, mores and morale have deteriorated, through exploitation by the bourgeoisie, to a degree where they cannot build class consciousness and hence cannot be mobilized for the revolution. Marxism

   "I hadn't quite figured her out yet: rude snob or lumpenproletariat?"

2. 2
   (Marxism) the unorganized lower levels of the proletariat who are not interested in revolutionary advancement wordnet
3. 3
   A social underclass; the riffraff.

Synonyms

All synonyms

hoi polloihoi polloimobrabbleriffraff

Example

More examples

"I hadn't quite figured her out yet: rude snob or lumpenproletariat?"

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Lumpenproletariat.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.