downwardly mobile
Losing economic status
Downwardly mobile describes someone moving to a lower social or economic class than they previously occupied or than their parents did.
The opposite of upwardly mobile, it often carries connotations of decline or failure: College-educated millennials working service jobs feel downwardly mobile compared to their parents.
The term appears in discussions of economic anxiety and generational wealth.
- decliningDecreasing in strength
- slippingLosing footing unintentionally
- fallingMoving downward freely
- strugglingExperiencing serious difficulty
- precariousDangerously insecure
falling behind · layoff · pink slip · foreclosure · debt · downgrade · broke · setback · recession · unemployed · paycheck · eviction · scraping · hustle · stretched · living paycheck to paycheck · insecure · sliding
- social classesupper class, middle class, lower class, working class, nobles
- wealth statuspoor, rich, wealthy, affluent, middle-class
downwardly mobileupwardly mobile
Rising in social class
nouveau riche · self-made · social climber · moving up in the world · arriviste
downwardly mobilesuccessful
Having achieved one's aims
thriving · prospering · making it · arrived · established
downwardly mobileupwardly mobile
Rising in social class
fast-tracked · climbing the ladder · rising star · ambitious · promoted
down, downward, downwardly, downwards, downer, downed, downing, mobile, mobility