masses
See also: Masses, massés, and Maßes
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmæs.ɪz/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
masses
- plural of mass
- plural of masse
Noun
masses pl (plural only)
- (generically) People, especially a large number of people; the general population.
- 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club:
- 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.
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- The total population.
- The masses will be voting this Tuesday.
- 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.
- The lower classes or all but the elite.
- […] the ignorant masses […]
Synonyms
- (lower classes): unwashed
Derived terms
- unwashed masses
Translations
people, especially a large number
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Verb
masses
- 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
- feminine plural of massa
Noun
masses
- plural of massa
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mas/
Etymology 1
Non-lemma form
Noun
masses f
- plural of masse
Noun
masses f pl (plural only)
- the commoners, the people
Etymology 2
Non-lemma form
Verb
masses
- second-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of masser
Further reading
- “masses”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.