# bourgeois (noun or adj.) (French). The merchants, professional persons (doctors, lawyers, professors), employers and white collar workers, as distinguished from: (1) The clergy; (2) The nobility and the landed gentry; and (3) The manual workers and peasants called the proletariat. See "Proletarian." Also [bourgeoisie](https://www.freemarketcenter.com/lexicon/index.html#bourgeoisie) (noun). # Notes A term most commonly associated with Karl Marx. See *lexicon* for best description. # References / Links