different between masses vs plebeian

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mæs.?z/

Noun

masses

1. plural of mass

Noun

masses pl (plural only)

1. (generically) People, especially a large number of people

   • Since first tossing its cartoonish, good-time cock-rock to the masses in the early ’00s, The Darkness has always fallen back on this defense: The band is a joke, but hey, it’s a good joke. With Hot Cakes—the group’s third album, and first since reforming last year—the laughter has died. In its place is the sad wheeze of the last surviving party balloon slowly, listlessly deflating.

2. The total population.
   • 1975, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

     Dennis: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

3. The lower classes or all but the elite.

Synonyms

• (lower classes): unwashed

Derived terms

• unwashed masses

Translations

Verb

masses

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of mass

See also

• unwashed masses

Further reading

• "masses" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 192.

Anagrams

• Sesmas

Catalan

Adjective

masses

1. feminine plural of massa

Noun

masses

1. plural of massa

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas/

Etymology 1

Non-lemma form

Noun

masses f

1. plural of masse

Noun

masses f pl (plural only)

1. The commoners, the people.

Etymology 2

Non-lemma form

Verb

masses

1. second-person singular present indicative of masser
2. second-person singular present subjunctive of masser

Further reading

• “masses” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Alternative forms

• plebian
• plebeyan, plebean, plebeane, plebien (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin pl?b?ius (“a commoner; common”) + -an (“forming adjectives”), from Latin pl?b?s + -ius (“forming adjectives”), possibly under the influence of Middle French plebeyen, plebein, plebien (“a commoner”) and plebeien (“concerning the common people”). Cf. Medieval Latin pl?b?i?nus (“a commoner”), from pl?b?ius + -?nus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pli?bi??n/, /pl??bi??n/
• Rhymes: -i??n

Noun

plebeian (plural plebeians)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A member of the plebs, the common citizens of ancient Rome.

   Synonyms: commoner, pleb, plebe

   Antonym: patrician

   • 1533, John Bellenden translating Livy, History of Rome, Vol. II, Ch. iv, Sect. ii:

     Na plebeane will tak þe dochter of ane patriciane but hir consent.

2. A commoner, particularly (derogatory) a low, vulgar person.

   Synonyms: commoner, villain, peasant, nobody

   Antonyms: noble, aristocrat

   • c. 1550, Robert Wedderburn, The Complaynt of Scotlande..., Ch. xv, p. 102:

     There blude... vald hef na bettir cullour nor the blude of ane plebien or of ane mecanik craftis man.

   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 3.

     The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian.

Derived terms

• pleb

Related terms

• plebe, plebs, plebeiance, plebeianism, plebeity, plebeiate

Translations

Adjective

plebeian (comparative more plebeian, superlative most plebeian)

1. (historical) Of or concerning the plebs, the common citizens of ancient Rome.
   • 1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure Beautified, Vol. I, Ch. iv, fol. 9 verso:

     To what purpose be the plebeian Magistrates ordeined?

2. Of or concerning the common people.
   • 1602, William Watson, A Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions, p. 301:

     ...priuate person or plebian multitude...

3. Common, particularly (derogatory) vulgar, crude, coarse, uncultured.
   • 1615, Robert Armin, The Valiant Welshman, Vol. i, Ch. i, sig. B:

     For to plebeyan wits, it is as good,
     As to be silent, as not vnderstood.

Synonyms

• (of or pertaining to the common people): vulgar, common, popular

Antonyms

• (of or pertaining to the common people): noble, aristocratic

Derived terms

• plebeianly, plebeianness

Translations

Further reading

• plebeian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “plebeian, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2006

Romanian

Etymology

From French plébéien

Adjective

plebeian m or n (feminine singular plebeian?, masculine plural plebeieni, feminine and neuter plural plebeiene)

1. plebeian

Declension