Plebeians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians and formed the lower social class
2. Ordinary Roman citizens distinct from the aristocratic patricians in society
3. Members of the lower social order in ancient Rome who lacked noble status

Etymology: The plural of "plebeian," which comes from the Latin "plebeius," derived from "plebs," the common people of Rome. The Latin "plebs" is usually linked to "plere," "to fill," so the common people were the "filling" or large mass of the population, as opposed to the patrician families who claimed descent from the earliest senators. The English word arrived in the late 1500s and originally just described the Roman lower classes, and it was only in the 1600s that it began to be used more broadly as a snobbish term for someone seen as coarse or unrefined.

Synonyms: commoners, proletarians

Antonyms: nobility, aristocrats