bourgeois

Definition

Of or relating to the middle class (often derogatory), and their presumed overly conventional, conservative, and materialistic values.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French bourgeois (“a class of citizens who were wealthier members of the Third Estate”), from Old French burgeis (“town dweller”), from Frankish *burg, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“stronghold; city”) (whence borough). Doublet of burgess; compare also burgish.

Example Sentences

• "bourgeois opinion"
• "It's impossible to tell the story of flamenco without talking about Lorca, who found in it a source of inspiration in a lifelong political-cultural-sexual struggle against bourgeois philistinism."
• "The increasing social interactions between the two nations through religion, court and commerce would expose differences in speech too and would soon deepen bourgeois Scots’ deteriorating perception of their own tongue."