upper classes
Society's privileged echelon
The upper classes are the highest social and economic tier of society—those with inherited wealth, aristocratic titles, or elite status.
The term implies not just money but established position: old families, prestigious education, refined manners.
The upper classes summer in the Hamptons.
Often used with mild critique or irony about privilege and exclusivity.
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
- bluebloodsHereditary upper class
- gentryHighborn but not noble
- nobilityTitled ruling class
peerage · old money · silver spoon · elite · landed gentry · ancestral homes · stately homes · class distinction · country estates · debutante ball · wealthy · caste system · feudal system · class struggle · titled · noblesse oblige · class conflict · hereditary titles
upper classeslower classes
Society's poorest economic strata
working class · working poor · underclass · proletariat · poor
upper classeshoi polloi
The common masses
plebeians · ordinary people · commoners · rabble · riffraff
upper classesunderprivileged
Lacking usual social advantages
disadvantaged · marginalized · disenfranchised · dispossessed · downtrodden
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