peasantry

American  

[pez-uhn-tree] / ˈpɛz ən tri /

noun

1. peasants collectively.

2. the status or character of a peasant.

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peasantry British  

/ ˈpɛzəntrɪ /

noun

1. peasants as a class

2. conduct characteristic of peasants

3. the status of a peasant

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Etymology

Origin of peasantry

First recorded in 1545–55; peasant + -ry

Example Sentences

Claudius has made himself a monarch again, standing at the head of a shrieking horde of desperate peasantry who believe he can unbar the door to that heavenly place.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

Instead we are left with Henry attempting to install a kinder, gentler way of taxing the peasantry; Julia scheming to keep her pregnancy safe; and Ellen and Brian preparing to risk it all for love.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2025

They are members of a technological medieval peasantry.

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024

It was rumored to have been said by an out-of-touch Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, after she learned that the French peasantry had run out of bread.

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2023

Feeling exultant as he drove back to Cange, he considered the real victors of the election to be the Haitian peasantry, like his friends and patients at the clinic.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French