1. The working class or lower social class: In ancient Rome, the proletariats were the lowest class of citizens, who had no property and who were regarded as contributing nothing to the state except their offspring.
2. The wage earners collectively, excluding salaried workers: Jim's father was a member of the proletariat who was being paid hourly wages.
3. Etymology: from Latin proletarius, "a man whose only wealth is his offspring" or "whose sole service to the state is as a father."

By 1856, the term proletariats was applied specifically to the laboring or working classes of people in Europe who were characterized as having no reserve money and who depended only on low wages for subsistence.

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