hoi polloi

[ hoi puh-loi ]

plural noun

1. Often the hoi polloi. the common people; the masses.

hoi polloi

/ ˌhɔɪ pəˈlɔɪ /

plural noun

1. derogatory.
   the masses; common people

hoi polloi

1. The masses, the ordinary folk; the phrase is often used in a derogatory way to refer to a popular preference or incorrect opinion: “The hoi polloi may think that Fitzgerald is a great director, but those who know about film realize that his work is commercial and derivative.” From Greek, meaning “the many.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoi polloi¹

First recorded in 1835–40; written in Greek letters in 1668 ; from Greek hoi polloí “the many”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoi polloi¹

Greek, literally: the many

Example Sentences

This piques romantic curiosity in a fellow refugee of the hoi polloi.

From The Daily Beast

Beyond the property lines, too, Chilmark is well tailored to the hoi polloi avoider.

From The Daily Beast

Most are delighted to reside in ivory butter-cream towers far from the roiling, boiling, chaotic hoi polloi below.

From The Daily Beast

No use letting the "hoi-polloi" get on to it that I was a greenhorn.

From Project Gutenberg

And what a Vandervent eats for breakfast makes snappy reading, I think you'd call it, for hoi polloi, eh?

From Project Gutenberg

As was well known, when Harris Collins performed he performed only for the élite, for the hoi-polloi of the trained-animal world.

From Project Gutenberg

Hoi polloi had used another entrance by which to climb to the upper galleries.

From Project Gutenberg

The book Im at work on is a deliberate attempt to pander to the depraved taste of hoi polloi.

From Project Gutenberg