proprietariatn.
/prəˌprʌɪəˈtɛːrɪət/, U.S. /prəˌpraɪəˈtɛriət/ The propertied class; the class of proprietors.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > aristocracy or upper class > [noun]
optimacy1579
aristocracy1651
great world1699
peerage1725
well-connected1788
governing class1795
patriciate1795
well-connected1831
caste1842
(the) salt of the earth1842
the leisured class(es1848
japonicadom1851
countyocracy1859
masterclass1861
proprietariat1872
four hundred1888
the Establishment1923
gratin1934
power élite1942
U1954
upper1955
topside1958
1872 R. Stevenson Diary 22 May in G. Balfour Life R. L. Stevenson (1901) I. v. 129 I acquitted myself as became a child of the Proprietariat, and warned him, quite apostolically, against all conversation with this Abomination of Desolation.
1896 G. B. Shaw Rep. Fabian Policy 4 It [sc. the Fabian Society]..does not believe that the moment will ever come when the whole of Socialism will be staked on the issue of a single General Election or a single Bill in the House of Commons, as between the proletariat on one side and the proprietariat on the other.
1950 G. B. Shaw Farfetched Fables 86 The feudal proprietariat is all for well policed private property.
1986 Spectator 3 May 20/2 It is true that the new proprietoriat is not a band of brothers.
2003 Hindu (Madras) (Nexis) 17 June All that is needed is for the Government and the people of Kerala to decide on whose side they are—with the needy tribal proletariat or the greedy feudal proprietariat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1872