noun
1. : a social class occupying a position below the middle class and having the lowest status in a society: as
a. : a feudal and post-feudal grouping of people composed principally of laborers and peasants
b. : a class composed chiefly (as in England) of manual workers : working class
c. : a socioeconomic grouping (as in the United States) characterized chiefly by low income, lack of education, and performance of unskilled manual labor
2. lower classes plural : an aggregate of social groupings comprising subdivisions of the lower class