Plebeian
[plɪ'biːən] or [plə'biən]
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs, or common people.
(a.) Of or pertaining to the common people; vulgar; common; as, plebeian sports; a plebeian throng.
(n.) One of the plebs, or common people of ancient Rome, in distinction from patrician.
(n.) One of the common people, or lower rank of men.
Typist: Nelly
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Ignoble, low, mean, base, vulgar, untitled, base-born, low-born.
Typed by Helga
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Low, vulgar, lowborn, lowbred, coarse, ignoble
ANT:Patrician, noble, aristocratic, refined, highborn, high-bred
Typed by Jed
Definition
adj. pertaining to or consisting of the common people: popular: vulgar.—n. originally one of the common people of ancient Rome: one of the lower classes.—v.t. Plebei′anise.—ns. Plebei′anism state of being a plebeian: the conduct or manners of plebeians: vulgarity; Plebificā′tion the act of making plebeian.—v.t. Pleb′ify to make plebeian: to vulgarise.
Typist: Marietta
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. An ancient Roman who in the blood of his country stained nothing but his hands. Distinguished from the Patrician who was a saturated solution.
Typist: Portia
Examples
- He's drunk; he's a drunken plebeian. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Now (this is entirely between ourselves), is she very plebeian? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Plebeian, prince, and noble had one solicitude in common--they would not be forgotten! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The plebeian power to stop business by the veto of their representatives, the tribunes, was fully exercised. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This community followed the usual tradition of a division into aristocratic and common citizens, who were called in Rome patricians and plebeians. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- This Lex Valeria was the Habeas Corpus of Rome, and it freed the Roman plebeians from the worst dangers of class vindictiveness in the law courts. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The plebeians were ousted from any share in the conquered lands, which the patricians divided up among themselves. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The plebeians withdrew again a second time to the Sacred Mount, and Appius Claudius committed suicide in prison. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Before the Punic Wars it was the tendency of ambitious men in Rome to court the plebeians; after that time they began to court the legions. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- And finally (3) there were patricians big-minded and far-seeing enough to insist upon the need of reconciliation with the plebeians. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Trade was coming to Rome with increasing political power, and many plebeians were growing rich and many patricians becoming relatively poor. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The mass of the details of this struggle between patricians and plebeians we can afford to ignore in this outline. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- For a long time the Roman patricians were clever enough to beat every such potential tyrant by giving in to a certain extent to the plebeians. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It abated because, among other influences, the social differences between patricians and plebeians were diminishing. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Typist: Manfred