masses

See also: Masses, massés, and Maßes

Contents

EnglishEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæs.ɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

NounEdit

masses

1. plural of mass
2. (plural only, generically) People, especially a large number of people
   • 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review)”, in The Onion AV Club^[1]:

     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.

3. (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.

4. (plural only) The lower classes or all but the elite.

   […] the ignorant masses […]

SynonymsEdit

• (lower classes): unwashed

Derived termsEdit

• unwashed masses

TranslationsEdit

people, especially a large number

• Arabic: اَلْجَمَاهِير‏‎ pl (al-jamāhīr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 群眾 (zh), 群众 (zh) (qúnzhòng)

• Finnish: massat pl, kansa (fi)
• French: masses (fr) f pl
• German: Massen (de) f pl

• Japanese: 大衆 (ja) (たいしゅう, taishū), 民衆 (ja) (みんしゅう, minshū)
• Korean: 군중 (ko) (群衆), 대중 (ko) (大衆), 민중 (ko) (民衆)
• Manx: pobble m
• Russian: ма́ссы (ru) f pl (mássy)
• Tagalog: mga santao

VerbEdit

masses

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of mass

See alsoEdit

• unwashed masses

---

CatalanEdit

AdjectiveEdit

masses

1. feminine plural of massa

NounEdit

masses

1. plural of massa

---

FrenchEdit

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /mas/

Etymology 1Edit

Non-lemma form

NounEdit

masses f

1. plural of masse

NounEdit

masses f pl (plural only)

1. The commoners, the people.

Etymology 2Edit

Non-lemma form

VerbEdit

masses

1. second-person singular present indicative of masser
2. second-person singular present subjunctive of masser

Further readingEdit

• “masses” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).