Why should old people be treated like second-class citizens?second-classˌsecond-ˈclass adjective [only before noun] 
Why should old people be treated like second-class citizens?2lower standard of a lower standard or quality than the best: We will not accept a second-class education for our children.3travel second-class ticket/fare/compartment/cabin etc tickets etc that are for cheaper, less comfortable seats on a train or ship4mail second-class mail/post/stamp etc relating to the system of delivering mail in Britain that is cheaper and slower5university degree used to describe a university degree in Britain that is good, but not the highest level: a second-class honours degree → first class(3)—second class adverb: He was travelling second class.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
- Enraged and impelled by her second-class status, she became one of the first literary feminists.
- I would not want to return women to the second-class status they are only now escaping.
- In many places, women seemed beaten down and resigned to their second-class status.
- It is a fitting reminder of the isolation and second-class status of these efforts.
- She took her finals in 1900 and was awarded second-class honours in the university examination for women.
- Somewhere south of York, Hubert was alone in a second-class non-smoking compartment.
- They want to treat all Arabs as slaves and second-class citizens.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Why should old people be treated like second-class citizens?COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSNOUN
Why should old people be treated like second-class citizens?· Some speak resentfully of a takeover by the Wessis, with themselves marked out for the role of second-class citizens.· Here we are, second-class citizens in our own country.· One danger of treating all crime as sickness is that it makes the criminal a second-class citizen.· We did not have a chance to mingle with Okinawansthey were considered second-class citizens.· They want to treat all Arabs as slaves and second-class citizens.· Private car-owners have become second-class citizens.· But they remained second-class citizens as the Service restocked itself with young men of the right background from Oxford and Cambridge.· Women were very definitely second-class citizens.
· Means-tested assistance is equated by the customer with second-class citizenship.· The effect of this order was to confer second-class citizenship on the proud Washington.· Put another way, that means lower salaries for members a proposal more redolent of second-class citizenship than a classless society.· Anything less would be second-class citizenship in the world of intercollegiate sports.
· The quantity relative for second-class stamps is 140.0, indicating an increase in numbers bought of 40%.
· I would not want to return women to the second-class status they are only now escaping.· It is a fitting reminder of the isolation and second-class status of these efforts.· In many places, women seemed beaten down and resigned to their second-class status.· Enraged and impelled by her second-class status, she became one of the first literary feminists.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY
1people considered to be less important and less valuable than other people: - I wanted two second-class tickets to Coimbra.
- First-class and second-class mail should be put through the machine on separate runs.
- The quantity relative for second-class stamps is 140.0, indicating an increase in numbers bought of 40%.
Why should old people be treated like second-class citizens?2lower standard of a lower standard or quality than the best: We will not accept a second-class education for our children.3travel second-class ticket/fare/compartment/cabin etc tickets etc that are for cheaper, less comfortable seats on a train or ship4mail second-class mail/post/stamp etc relating to the system of delivering mail in Britain that is cheaper and slower5university degree used to describe a university degree in Britain that is good, but not the highest level: a second-class honours degree → first class(3)—second class adverb: He was travelling second class.