welfariat

n.

The class of people whose income is based solely on receiving welfare payments (welfare + proletariat).

Example Citation:

Travelling in Africa, as this campaign began, I saw the depths of human suffering in Mozambique. It left me cool to lamentations here about underfunding of our National Health Service or the shortcomings of our colossal welfariat.

—W. F. Deedes, "An opportunity today which may not come again," The Daily Telegraph, April 9, 1992

Earliest Citation:

The one-parent family, or to be more precise fatherless children, often illegitimate children born into the welfariat are a major source of inner-city blight.

—Sir Alfred Sherman, "Blind spots in the SDP's vision," The Guardian, November 11, 1985

Related Words:

commentariat

punditariat

Category:

Demographics