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the great unwashed 

1. A person of a lower order who is looked down upon by most of society.

2. A term to refer to anyone who is common and or stupid in their ways.

3. Can also be applied to a person who follows 'the crowd' and dosen't have a mind of their own.
Being lazy, a moocher and lacking a college education M. Rehmeyer was considered as one of 'the great unwashed' by the higher echelons of society.
the great unwashed by Rnotbscot February 12, 2008
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the great unwashed 

Coined by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, "the great unwashed" refers to the lower classes.

The common people.
The great unwashed enjoy reality TV and shopping at Wal-Mart.
the great unwashed by Lytton September 9, 2006

the great unwashed 

the working class masses
Corporations fear the day that the great unwashed will throw of the shackles of consumerism and ever increasing debt and focus on more imporant endeavours such as their health, family and friends.
the great unwashed by etticosmassic September 20, 2005

The Great Unwashed 

People who go to Lan parties and down`t wash for three days straight...also known as CS Players

the great unwashed 

People who like to go camping and not shower so they can be "one with nature". People who wear birkenstocks.

The great unwashed must be distinguished from homeless people...the gw have homes and often have money, they're just dirty.
Yuck, one of the great unwashed is camping down by the river again! I can smell him from here.
the great unwashed by surely February 9, 2005

The Great Unwashed 

see UAF or Unite Against Fascism
the great unwashed are bitching against the narrrzis again
More from Urban Dictionary
The striver is an interesting phenomenon that is seen across college campuses. In essence, the striver is an over-achiever who comes from a working or middle class family. He may be an immigrant. He may have been a slacker in HS who was "born again" into an academic wunderkind. Or he may just be an over-achiever who is keeping at it.

The striver is willing to sacrifice his social life at the expense of Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. The striver is the guy who stays at the library long after you are gone. The striver is the guy who takes 30 credits/semester and considers anything below an A/4.0 failure. The striver doesn't work on campus, he is too busy finding ways to pad his resume instead of working retail or workstudy. The striver lets his grades pay his education by applying to ten scholarships a year.

The striver is a future Soros/Fullbright/Rhodes/Gates/Marshall/etc. fellow. The striver lives to study. For the striver, their fun comes from the rewards they expect to receive in return for their diligence. Be it Law School, B-School, academia, or politics. The striver seeks to find the American Dream through academic success.
Anthony was a striver. He transfered from a TTT to an IVY and graduated in 2 years. He studied his ass off and went to Penn Law. He got a Biglaw offer. But lost it all because of an unmoderated mesasgeboard.

Successful strivers:
- Barack Obama
- Harold Koh
Striver by URM Striver January 3, 2009
Word of the Day on August 15, 2026
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