Upper-class describes the richest and most privileged group in a society. In Britain that has traditionally meant land, titles and inherited money rather than a large salary.
The word belongs to a three-part scheme — working-class, middle-class, upper-class — that British writing still leans on heavily, and the boundaries are argued over constantly. It marks accent, schooling and manner as much as wealth, which is why an upper-class accent is a recognisable thing and an upper-class income is not really a phrase. Sociologists prefer measurable terms like high income. As a noun it drops the hyphen: the upper class, or the upper classes.
1adjectiveupper-classBelonging to the wealthiest and most privileged social class.
“He had the unmistakable vowels of an upper-class education.”
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word