plebeian

• plebian, plebeyan, plebean, plebeane, plebien (obsolete)

From Latin plebeius (“a commoner; common”) + -an (“forming adjectives”), from Latin plēbēs + -ius (“forming adjectives”), possibly under the influence of Middle French plebeyen, plebein, plebien (“a commoner”) and plebeien (“concerning the common people”). Cf. Medieval Latin plebeianus (“a commoner”), from plebeius + -ianus.

• IPA^(key): /plɪˈbiːən/

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• Rhymes: -iːən

plebeian (plural plebeians)

1. (historical, Ancient Rome) A member of the plebs, the common citizens of ancient Rome.

   Synonyms: commoner, pleb, plebe

   Antonym: patrician

   • 1533, John Bellenden translating Livy, History of Rome, Vol. II, Ch. iv, Sect. ii:

     Na plebeane will tak þe dochter of ane patriciane but hir consent.

2. A commoner, particularly (derogatory) a low, vulgar person.

   Synonyms: commoner, villain, peasant, nobody

   Antonyms: noble, aristocrat

   • c. 1550, Robert Wedderburn, The Complaynt of Scotlande..., Ch. xv, p. 102:

     There blude... vald hef na bettir cullour nor the blude of ane plebien or of ane mecanik craftis man.

   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 3.

     The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian.

• pleb

• plebe, plebs, plebeiance, plebeianism, plebeity

plebeian (comparative more plebeian, superlative most plebeian)

1. (historical) Of or concerning the plebs, the common citizens of ancient Rome.
   • 1566, William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure Beautified, Vol. I, Ch. iv, fol. 9 verso:

     To what purpose be the plebeian Magistrates ordeined?

2. Of or concerning the common people.
   • 1602, William Watson, A Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions, p. 301:

     ...priuate person or plebian multitude...

3. Common, particularly (derogatory) vulgar, crude, coarse, uncultured.
   • 1615, Robert Armin, The Valiant Welshman, Vol. i, Ch. i, sig. B:

     For to plebeyan wits, it is as good,
     As to be silent, as not vnderstood.

   • 2016 September 8, Andrew Cunningham, “The $10,000 golden Apple Watch is no more”, in Arstechnica‎:

     Completely absent was any mention of the Apple Watch Edition branding, which Apple used last year to launch a pair of $10,000-and-up Apple Watches that worked the same way as the cheap ones but were made out of actual gold instead of workaday, plebeian metals.

• (of or pertaining to the common people): vulgar, common, popular

• (of or pertaining to the common people): noble, aristocratic

• plebeianly, plebeianness

• plebeian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “plebeian, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2006.