From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe lower ordersthe lower ordersold-fashionedCLASS IN SOCIETY an offensive expression for working class people considered as a group → lower orders
Examples from the Corpus
the lower orders• Gin was, after all, commercially produced and consumed only by the lower orders.• Journalists believed that their message could reach even the lower orders.• When friendships finally became possible for him they were with children of the lower orders.• For example, the first rise in expectations of the lower orders would be for more and better food before manufactured goods.• The riots of 1736, too, had crystallized general resentments of the lower orders.• We must have the freedom to make our mills successful, so that we can offer the lower orders employment.• For the most part the lower orders depended on selling their labour.• He shows no urge to rub shoulders with the lower orders but, if anything, a tendency to keep his distance.the lower ordersthe lower ordersBritish English old-fashionedCLASS IN SOCIETY people who belong to the lowest social class → orderExamples from the Corpus
the lower orders• Gin was, after all, commercially produced and consumed only by the lower orders.• Journalists believed that their message could reach even the lower orders.• When friendships finally became possible for him they were with children of the lower orders.• For example, the first rise in expectations of the lower orders would be for more and better food before manufactured goods.• The riots of 1736, too, had crystallized general resentments of the lower orders.• We must have the freedom to make our mills successful, so that we can offer the lower orders employment.• For the most part the lower orders depended on selling their labour.• He shows no urge to rub shoulders with the lower orders but, if anything, a tendency to keep his distance. 