From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmiddle classˌmiddle ˈclass ●●○ noun [singular] (also middle classes) CLASS IN SOCIETYthe social class that includes people who are educated and work in professional jobs, for example teachers or managers → lower class, upper class, working class This led to the creation of a new, affluent middle class. Home ownership was once a privilege of the middle classes.GRAMMAR: Singular or plural verb?• Middle class is usually followed by a singular verb: Brazil’s middle class has grown in number.• In British English, you can also use a plural verb: Brazil’s middle class have grown in number.
Examples from the Corpus
middle class• However, a middle class is growing.• Now is when the downsized middle class is looking for protections that unions once provided.• What matters is the expectations of the middle class.middle-classˌmiddle-ˈclass ●●○ adjective 1 CLASS IN SOCIETYtypical of people who are educated and work in professional jobs a middle-class family They lived a comfortable middle-class life.2 CLASS IN SOCIETYmiddle-class attitudes and ideas are typical of middle-class people and are often concerned with the idea that people should work hard, have a good education, and try to earn enough money to live a comfortable lifeExamples from the Corpus
middle-class• The Klan has been trying to recruit a new type of kid: young, middle-class and white.• She knew how much the pay packet meant to that middle-class family.• The audience was mainly middle-class men.• All the great middle-class moral reforms of the age had been achieved at the expense of pleasure and enjoyment.• a middle-class neighborhood• They live in a middle-class neighbourhood on the edge of town.• I should add that these three incidents happened to intelligent, middle-class patients in hospitals with international reputations.• Its members brought the same middle-class standards to black adoptions that they used for white adoptions.• College is more expensive and more critical to middle-class status than in the past.• a middle-class view of life• Most of his patients were middle-class women who suffered from hysteria.• The middle-class YCs had been far more serious at school than Willis' lads. 