From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpeasantrypeas‧ant‧ry /ˈpezəntri/ noun → the peasantry
Examples from the Corpus
peasantry• Both families had been transformed from what might be called a lumpen peasantry into what Marx did call the lumpen proletariat.• Social change, therefore, was unlikely to come from the top and the peasantry were badly educated and impoverished smallholders.• But the peasantry as a whole remained in a condition of extreme economic weakness.• But the commercial success paradoxically impoverished the peasantry.• The commitment to the commune, as the best means of taxing and policing the peasantry, was repeatedly reaffirmed.• This argument puts forward the notion that the peasantry working in these conditions would provide revolutionary potential.• Even more important was the peasantry.• The peasantry still had virtually no rights whatsoever. 