bourgeois

views updated Jun 08 2018

bour·geois / boŏrˈzhwä; ˈboŏrzh/ • adj. of or characteristic of the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes: a rich, bored, bourgeois family. ∎  (in Marxist contexts) upholding the interests of capitalism; not communist: bourgeois society took for granted the sanctity of property.• n. (pl. same) a bourgeois person: a self-confessed and proud bourgeois.

bourgeois

views updated May 14 2018

bourgeois XVI (orig., French citizen of the trading middle class). — (O)F. bourgeois, earlier burgeis (see BURGESS); adj. XVIII.