(French sans-culotte , "without breeches") In the French Revolution , one of the ill-clad and ill-equipped volunteers of the Revolutionary army; also a Parisian ultrademocrat of the Revolution.
The working-class sansculottes wore long trousers to distinguish themselves from the upper classes, who wore knee-breeches ( culotte ). Allied with the Jacobins (see Jacobin Club ) in the Reign of Terror , sansculottes included ultrademocrats of all classes. Their influence waned after the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in 1794. See also Jacques Hébert .