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Masses vs Plebeian - What's the difference?

masses | plebeian |

As nouns the difference between masses and plebeian

is that masses is while plebeian is one of the plebs, or common people of ancient rome, in distinction from patrician.

As an adjective plebeian is

of or pertaining to the roman plebs, or common people.

masses

English

Noun

(head)
  • (plural only, generically) People, especially a large number of people
  • * '>citation
  • 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.
  • (plural only) 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.
  • (plural only) The lower classes or all but the elite.
  • Synonyms

    * (lower classes) unwashed

    Derived terms

    * unwashed masses

    Verb

    (head)
  • (mass)
  • See also

    * unwashed masses ----

    plebeian

    English

    Alternative forms

    * plebian

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs, or common people.
  • Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common.
  • plebeian sports
    They were all from the ghetto, a plebeian throng.

    Synonyms

    * (of or pertaining to the common people) vulgar

    Antonyms

    * (of or pertaining to the common people) noble, aristocratic

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of the plebs, or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician.
  • (archaic) One of the common people, or lower rank of men.
  • * 1748 . David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 3.
  • The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian .

    Synonyms

    * (one of the plebs) commoner, pleb * (one of the common people) commoner

    Antonyms

    * (one of the plebs) patrician * (one of the common people) noble, aristocrat

    Derived terms

    * pleb