masses

See also: Masses, massés, and Maßes

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.ɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

masses

1. plural of mass
2. plural of masse

Noun

masses pl (plural only)

1. (generically) People, especially a large number of people; the general population.
   • 2009, Shiping Hua, “Reforms within Communism: China”, in Chinese Utopianism: A Comparative Study of Reformist Thought with Japan and Russia, 1898-1997‎^[1] (Chinese Studies/Political Theory), Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Stanford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 71:

     The masses were mobilized not only to perform typical activities that are part of agricultural production, but also unusual ones such as killing sparrows and rats that were reportedly competing with humans for food. For instance, in 1958, the people of Tunliu County in Shanxi Province were determined to kill all sparrows and rats within their territory.

   • 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[2]:

     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.

2. 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.

3. The lower classes or all but the elite.

   […] the ignorant masses […]

   • 2019 August 13, Devan Cole and Caroline Kelly, “Cuccinelli rewrites Statue of Liberty poem to make case for limiting immigration”, in CNN‎^[3]:

     Ken Cuccinelli tweaked the famous poem from Emma Lazarus – whose words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are long associated with immigration to the US and the nation’s history as a haven – as part of a case for strict new measures pushed Monday by the Trump administration that could dramatically change the legal immigration system.

Synonyms

• (lower classes): unwashed

Derived terms

• tyranny of the masses
• unwashed masses

Translations

people, especially a large number

• Arabic: الْجَمَاهِير pl (al-jamāhīr)
• Belarusian: ма́сы f pl (másy)
• Bulgarian: ма́си (bg) f pl (mási)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 群眾 / 群众 (zh) (qúnzhòng)

• Finnish: massat pl, kansa (fi)
• French: masses (fr) f pl
• German: Massen (de) f pl
• Hindi: जनता (hi) f (jantā), अवाम (hi) m (avām), जमहूर (hi) m (jamhūr)
• Japanese: 大衆 (ja) (たいしゅう, taishū), 民衆 (ja) (みんしゅう, minshū)
• Korean: 군중(群衆) (ko) (gunjung), 대중(大衆) (ko) (daejung), 민중(民衆) (ko) (minjung)
• Malay: orang ramai (ms)
• Manx: pobble m
• Māori: mātinitini
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: جُمْهور (fa) (jomhur), عَوام (fa) (avâm)

• Polish: masy f pl
• Russian: ма́ссы (ru) f pl (mássy)
• Spanish: masas (es) f pl
• Tagalog: masa
• Ukrainian: ма́си f pl (másy)
• Urdu: عَوام m ('avām), جَمْہُور m (jamhūr)

Verb

masses

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of mass

See also

• unwashed masses

Further reading

• Raymond Williams (1983), “Masses”, in Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, revised American edition, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 192.

Anagrams

• Sesmas

Catalan

Noun

masses

1. plural of massa

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mas/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Non-lemma form

Noun

masses f

1. plural of masse

Noun

masses f pl (plural only)

1. the commoners, the people

Etymology 2

Non-lemma form

Verb

masses

1. 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