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⇱ bourgeois - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

bourgeois

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UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/bʊərˈʒwɑː/

US:USA pronunciation: IPAUSA pronunciation: IPA/bʊrˈʒwɑ/

US:USA pronunciation: respellingUSA pronunciation: respelling(bŏŏr zhwä′, bŏŏr′zhwä; Fr. bo̅o̅ zhw′; Print. bər jois′)


Inflections of 'bourgeois' (n): npl: bourgeois

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
bour•geois1 /bʊrˈʒwɑ/USA pronunciation   n., pl. -geois, adj. 
n. [countable]
  1. Governmenta member of the bourgeoisie.
  2. Governmenta person interested in material things and concerned with respectability.

adj. 
  1. Governmentbelonging to or characteristic of the middle class:typically bourgeois values.
  2. characterized by or concerned with material things and respectability.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
bour•geois1  (bŏŏr zhwä′, bŏŏr′zhwä; Fr. bo̅o̅r zhwa′),USA pronunciation n., pl. -geois, adj. 
n. 
    1. Governmenta member of the middle class.
    2. Governmenta person whose political, economic, and social opinions are believed to be determined mainly by concern for property values and conventional respectability.
    3. Governmenta shopkeeper or merchant.

    adj. 
    1. Governmentbelonging to, characteristic of, or consisting of the middle class.
    2. Governmentconventional;
      middle-class.
    3. Governmentdominated or characterized by materialistic pursuits or concerns.
    • Middle French; Old French borgeis burgess
    • 1555–65

bour•geois2  (bər jois′),USA pronunciation n. [Print.]
  1. a size of type approximately 9-point, between brevier and long primer.
  • perh. from a printer so named 1815–25

Bour•geois  (bŏŏr zhwä′, bŏŏr′zhwä; Fr. bo̅o̅r zhwa′),USA pronunciation n. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
bourgeois /ˈbʊəʒwɑː; bʊəˈʒwɑː/ often derogatory n ( pl -geois)
  1. a member of the middle class, esp one regarded as being conservative and materialistic or (in Marxist thought) a capitalist exploiting the working class
  2. a mediocre, unimaginative, or materialistic person
 adj
  1. characteristic of, relating to, or comprising the middle class
  2. conservative or materialistic in outlook: a bourgeois mentality
  3. (in Marxist thought) dominated by capitalists or capitalist interests
Etymology: 16th Century: from Old French borjois, burgeis burgher, citizen, from bourg town; see burgessbourgeoise /ˈbʊəʒwɑːz; bʊəˈʒwɑːz/ fem n
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
Bourgeois /French: burʒwa/ n
  1. Léon Victor Auguste ( leɔ̃ viktɔr oɡyst ). 1851–1925, French statesman; first chairman of the League of Nations: Nobel peace prize 1920
'bourgeois' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

🗣️Forum discussions with the word(s) "bourgeois" in the title:

a new ruling class of bourgeois industrial capitalists
as being too bourgeois / the meaning of 'as'
bourgeois chic
bourgeois families
bourgeois parents
bourgeois-academic discourse
for what we could call these bourgeois defects
hateful values which had destroyed, and were destroying, bourgeois Europe
justice for the poor in bourgeois society
Keep your bourgeois judgments to yourself
Meaning of "bourgeois construct"?
modesty in a bourgeois failing
stolid bourgeois dependability
the individual, especially the personal man, is bourgeois
the White House is a tad bourgeois in an Epcot-y sort of way
these heroes are extremely aggressive in bourgeois economic <terms>
You are no longer men, that is bourgeois; you are items in the Soviet state

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