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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

bour·geoi·sie

Audio Help [boo

r-zhwah-zee; Fr. boor-zhwa-zee] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	the bourgeois class.

2.	(in Marxist theory) the class that, in contrast to the proletariat or wage-earning class, is primarily concerned with property values.

[Origin: 1700–10; < F; see bourgeois¹, -y³

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Bourgeoisie

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bour·geoi·sie Audio Help (bŏŏr'zhwä-zē') Pronunciation Key
n.

The middle class.
In Marxist theory, the social group opposed to the proletariat in the class struggle.

[French, from bourgeois, bourgeois; see bourgeois.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

bourgeoisie
noun
the social class between the lower and upper classes [syn: middle class]

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
bourgeoisie [(boor-zhwah-zee)]

In general, the middle class. Applied to the Middle Ages, it refers to townspeople, who were neither nobles nor peasants. In Marxism it refers to those who control the means of production and do not live directly by the sale of their labor. Karl Marx distinguished between the “haute” (high) bourgeoisie (industrialists and financiers) and the “petite” (small or “petty”) bourgeoisie (shopkeepers, self-employed artisans, lawyers). Marxism postulates a fundamental conflict between the interests of the bourgeoisie and those of the propertyless workers, the proletariat.