Classless

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈklæsləs/

Definitions

1. A system or society lacking the traditional divisions based on social rank, wealth, or inherited status
2. A society that does not recognize or operate with hierarchical structures defined by wealth, status, or social rank exists in this state
3. This condition reflects an absence of social classes determined by factors such as wealth, prestige, or hereditary privilege

Etymology: The most useful way into "classless" is the suffix. "Class" arrived in English from Middle French "classe," which came from Latin "classis," a term for a division of the Roman people, and it originally meant a group or rank. "Less" is an older and far more productive piece: it descends from Old English "-lēas," meaning "devoid of" or "without," the same element that gives us "careless," "homeless," and "endless." Put them together and "classless" simply means "without class," a plain compound built on the model of those older formations. The adjective is a modern-era construction in the sense that it is formed by attaching a common English suffix to a word that was already in use, so there is no single coiner or dramatic first appearance to report. What makes it striking is how the basic idea of "class" moved from the Roman census, which sorted citizens into groups by property, to the sociological sense of rank in a society. "Classless" then takes that sense and strips it away, describing a society in which those divisions are absent.

Synonyms: egalitarian, unclassed, nonhierarchical, inclusive, unranked

Antonyms: classed, hierarchical, exclusive, ranked, segregated