[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/bourgeois/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [B](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/b/) / bourgeois

# bourgeois

adjective (bourgeois); noun (a bourgeois, the bourgeoisie)

«bourgeois» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Belonging to the middle class, people who have comfortable jobs, homes and money. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#m1)
2. (informal, often unkind) Too interested in owning things, being respectable and following ordinary middle-class tastes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#m2)
3. In history (especially Karl Marx's ideas), the bourgeoisie are the people who own factories and businesses. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#m3)

### In the lessons

In history lessons it appears in the French Revolution and in ideas about social class. In everyday adult talk it can be a mocking word for things seen as posh or fussy, often said jokingly («a bit bourgeois, isn't it?»). It tells the reader about class and lifestyle.

### Examples

- The bourgeois family lived in a big house in Paris. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x1)
- In the story, the bourgeois merchant cared only about money. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x2)
- Dad joked that eating olives was very bourgeois. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x3)
- The bourgeoisie gained power after the French Revolution. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x4)
- Karl Marx wrote about workers and the bourgeoisie. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x5)
- She said the fancy coffee shop was too bourgeois for her. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/#x6)

### Note

A French word. Said «BOOR-zhwah» (the s is silent). Spelling trap: b-o-u-r-g-e-o-i-s. The group noun is «the bourgeoisie» (boor-zhwah-ZEE). Can sound like an insult, so use it carefully.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «bourgeois» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bourgeois/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«bourgeois» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/bourgeois.html) on Mova free.