PEASANTRY Synonyms: 47 Similar and Opposite Words

peasantry

noun

Definition of peasantry

as in commoners

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of peasantry The French peasantry has been and still is at risk of being disenfranchised by the very structures claiming to support their prosperity, often at the cost of both their health and land. — Made By History, Time, 25 Apr. 2025 For their part, the European peasantry grew wary of the Christian leaders who seemed to have abandoned them. — Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025 By the late third century, most emperors and many of their top officials rose from the rural peasantry through the ranks of the army. — Jeffrey E. Schulman / Made By History, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024 But the network structures of Colonial America and ancien régime France were profoundly different (for example, the former lacked a large, illiterate peasantry). — Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 15 Aug. 2017 See All Example Sentences for peasantry

Recent Examples of Synonyms for peasantry

Noun

All that loot pumped out of the Armenian proletariat, says the gaur, and for what.

— Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Severin, on the other hand, represents the revolutionary proletariat.

— JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025

Definition of proletariat

Noun

In some cases, preexisting latifundia were modernized and adapted to the needs of export commodity production, frequently on the basis of outright slavery or any number of coercive arrangements like debt peonage and sharecropping.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
Many Black Americans fled this violent system of peonage and terror in the Great Migration, moving to cities such as Gary and Pittsburgh for a better life.

— John E. Jackson Sr, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026

Definition of peonage

Noun

When the arcade first opened, Europe was navigating industrialization, the rise of the urban bourgeoisie, and the emergence of modern ready-to-wear fashion.

— Eleonora Giordani, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2026
The state discovered that reforms had to be beneficial to all, and so the political mission had to be implementing education and acculturation as a means of solidifying the nascent bourgeoisie.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of bourgeoisie

Noun

Toward the end of his time as leader and in the last two years as a rank and file senator, McConnell’s health has visibly declined.

— Mary Clare Jalonick, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
When the Democrats do present economic policies, their rank and file want those to seem like making big changes, not smaller ones — even if the smaller ones would be easier to do.

— Anthony Salvanto, CBS News, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of rank and file

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peasant

peasantry

peasants

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“Peasantry.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peasantry. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of peasantry

noun

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