This week’s theme
Words with irregular plurals

This week’s words
chrysalis
imago
tour de force
bourgeois
oxymoron

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(boor-ZHWAH, BOOR-zhwah)
plural bourgeois (boor-ZHWAH, BOOR-zhwah)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A member of the middle class.
2. One who exhibits behavior in conformity to the conventions of the middle class.
3. In Marxist theory, a member of the capitalist class.

adjective:
1. Belonging to the middle class.
2. Marked by a concern for respectability and material interests.
3. Mediocre or unimaginative: lacking artistic refinement.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French bourgeois, from Latin burgus (fortress, fortified town), from West Germanic burg. Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhergh- (high) which is also the source of iceberg, belfry, borough, burg, burglar, bourgeois, fortify, and force. Earliest documented use: 1564.

USAGE:

“By all means get stuck into the people who stall at bourgeois and never move past the obsession with acquisition and security.”
Lisa Pryor; Relax; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Dec 29, 2007.

See more usage examples of bourgeois in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: