as in low
belonging to the class of people of low social or economic rank
a kind of music that has traditionally appealed to the lumpen segment of the musical audience
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Recent Examples of lumpen
Yet Empire Falls translates into a lumpen, stodgy miniseries, despite a fine central performance from Harris as a divorced diner owner with deep roots in the town and a structure that allows the past to keep informing and enriching the present.
—
Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024
Rhys spent decades, often isolated and paranoid, in lumpen houses and apartments in and out of London, before success arrived late.
—New York Times, 20 June 2022
Then the judges booted her for wearing a lumpen quilt skirt accessorized with a blow-up-doll boyfriend.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2022
Tye Sheridan gives a somewhat lumpen performance as the author’s stand-in, an aspiring writer whose family background is funky, to say the least.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2022
The films of Sean Baker celebrate lumpen characters and communities that subsist within the cracks of America’s neoliberal landscape.
—Erik Morse, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2021
Indeed, the miniatures — lumpen clay armchairs and occasional tables that Valle arranges and rearranges inside shoebox versions of their ultimate destinations — are closer to dollhouse furniture than to showpiece renderings.
—New York Times, 9 Sep. 2021
Some collectors are leaning further into technology by amassing digital artworks, while other sets of buyers are coping by prizing ceramics, with their fragile, lumpen tactility.
—Kelly Crow, WSJ, 6 July 2021
Other labels are riffing on the shoe’s lumpen shape, and playing with proportion and puff.
—Lauren Mechling, Vogue, 30 Mar. 2021
Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024
Rhys spent decades, often isolated and paranoid, in lumpen houses and apartments in and out of London, before success arrived late.
—New York Times, 20 June 2022
Then the judges booted her for wearing a lumpen quilt skirt accessorized with a blow-up-doll boyfriend.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2022
Tye Sheridan gives a somewhat lumpen performance as the author’s stand-in, an aspiring writer whose family background is funky, to say the least.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2022
The films of Sean Baker celebrate lumpen characters and communities that subsist within the cracks of America’s neoliberal landscape.
—Erik Morse, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2021
Indeed, the miniatures — lumpen clay armchairs and occasional tables that Valle arranges and rearranges inside shoebox versions of their ultimate destinations — are closer to dollhouse furniture than to showpiece renderings.
—New York Times, 9 Sep. 2021
Some collectors are leaning further into technology by amassing digital artworks, while other sets of buyers are coping by prizing ceramics, with their fragile, lumpen tactility.
—Kelly Crow, WSJ, 6 July 2021
Other labels are riffing on the shoe’s lumpen shape, and playing with proportion and puff.
—Lauren Mechling, Vogue, 30 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumpen
Adjective
-
The survey's measure of consumer sentiment dropped to a level lower than at any point during the Great Recession.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
11 Apr. 2025
-
Some hurdles are too low (come on, everyone knows Deborah won’t be mad at Ava forever), and others are too high.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Understandably, it’s gated off for us, the unwashed masses.—
Geoffrey Morrison,
Forbes,
3 Nov. 2024
-
The restaurant was in violation of 12 standards, including unwashed fruit and food stored on the floor.—
Evan Moore,
Charlotte Observer,
21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Below that sits the pedestrian CLK 500 and plebeian CLK 350.—
Jeremy Korzeniewski,
Robb Report,
26 Feb. 2025
-
Across the lake, on the plebeian side, up the shoreline a mile or so, in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, stand twin 32-story towers dubbed Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Like a cat with nine lives, the building has undergone multiple renovations since its humble start as a savonnerie, or soap factory, in 1630.—
Travel + Leisure Editors,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2025
-
What began as a humble mom-and-pop grocer and butcher shop a century ago is now a well-greased sausage factory, selling its products to big-name distributors such as Shamrock Foods, US Foods and Sysco, which get them to major sporting venues such as Ball Arena and Coors Field.—
Miguel Otárola,
Denver Post,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The Europeans were enchanted by the expressive fluency that the New York critics had considered vulgar.—
David Denby,
The Atlantic,
1 Apr. 2025
-
The chief spoke at the LAPD’s Police Commission weekly meeting Tuesday, a day after news broke that officers from the department’s recruitment and employment division had been unknowingly recorded making vulgar comments, including while talking about police applicants.—
Libor Jany,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
There’s an ignoble tradition of falsified memoirs.—
Andrew Silow-Carroll,
Sun Sentinel,
11 Mar. 2025
-
Until then, there are the Razzies, an ignoble accolade marking the very worst movies and acting performances of the year.—
Marco della Cava,
USA TODAY,
28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Their offense has been nonexistent this season, scoring a measly 2.95 runs per game, which ranks last in the AL and 29th in all of MLB, only ahead of the lowly Rockies.—
Nicholas Creel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Apr. 2025
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The Dubai chocolate craze has moved way past the lowly bar.—
Lisa Gutierrez,
Kansas City Star,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Science popularization should not be considered as inferior to or detracting from traditional scientific research.—
Marshall Shepherd,
Forbes.com,
6 Apr. 2025
-
For more than half of Thursday’s Sweet 16 game against Arkansas, Texas Tech looked like the inferior team.—
Nathan Canilao,
Mercury News,
28 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lumpen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumpen. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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