lumpen

See also: Lumpen

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlʌmpən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Shortened from German Lumpenproletariat, from Lump (“a contemptible person”) + Proletariat.

Adjective

lumpen

1. Of or relating to social outcasts.
   • 2014, Roberto Bolaño (tr. Natasha Wimmer), A Little Lumpen Novelita (2014 English of 2002 book):
     • A little lumpen novelita. [Story of orphaned teenagers turning to crime.]
2. Of or relating to the lumpenproletariat.
3. Plebeian.

Related terms

• lumpenism

Translations

of or relating to social outcasts

• Greek: λούμπεν (el) (loúmpen)

Noun

lumpen (plural lumpens)

1. A member of the lumpenproletariat.

Etymology 2

From lump +‎ -en (adjectival suffix).

Adjective

lumpen (not comparable)

1. Lump-like.
   • 1968, Stanley Kubrick, Playboy magazine interview, September 1968, page 94:

     [About prominent critics lambasting his film 2001:] New York was the only really hostile city. Perhaps there is a certain element of the lumpen literati that is so dogmatically atheist and materialist and Earth-bound that it finds the grandeur of space and the myriad mysteries of cosmic intelligence anathema.

   • 2000, Joanne Morra, Mark Robson, Marquard Smith, The Limits of Death: Between Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, →ISBN, page 72:

     This something, which is neither body nor machine but interior and alien to them both, pertains to the 'meat' in Gibson's world insofar as the 'meat' - that useless corporeal remainder discarded by the machine - retains an excess that cannot be reduced to the lumpen mass of fleshy existence.

   • 2001, Adrian Beard, Texts and Contexts: Introducing Literature and Language Study, →ISBN:

     Using the last two as an example, there is a constant sense of contrast in the poem, in this case between the streamlined ship which will surge through the water and the mere lumpen shape of the clumsy iceberg.

   • 2003, Dana Stabenow, A Grave Denied, →ISBN, page 17:

     Billy and Dandy had draped a tarp over the body but the shape itself looked lumpen and grotesque.

   • 2020 August 7, Jonathan Liew, “Phil Foden stars to offer Manchester City glimpse of multiple futures”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     a slaloming winger putting lumpen defenders on their backsides, or even a sneaky centre-forward, using his boundless energy to lead the press and force mistakes.

Etymology 3

From lump +‎ -en (verbal suffix).

Verb

lumpen (third-person singular simple present lumpens, present participle lumpening, simple past and past participle lumpened)

1. (rare, transitive, intransitive) To make or become like lumps; make or become lumpy
   • 1959, Harold Uriel Ribalow, The chosen, page 298:

     They had chicken soup with the matzo meal balls a little lumpened by hurry, challah, roast chicken, kasha, honey-cake.

Anagrams

• plenum

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlumpen/

Verb

lumpen

1. past participle of limpan

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Lumpen.

Noun

lumpen m (plural lumpeni)

1. lumpenproletarian

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	lumpen	lumpenul		lumpeni	lumpenii
genitive-dative	lumpen	lumpenului		lumpeni	lumpenilor
vocative	lumpenule			lumpenilor

References

• lumpen in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Noun

lumpen m (plural lúmpenes)

1. underclass, hoi polloi

Further reading

• “lumpen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Etymology

From German Lumpen (“cloth, rag”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlɵ́mpɛ̀n]

Adjective

lumpen (comparative lumpnare, superlative lumpnast)

1. low, mean (mean in an uncalled-for, often petty way)

   Att utelämna Nisse som medförfattare till boken är riktigt lumpet av honom

   To leave out Nisse as co-author of the book is really low of him

2. paltry, lousy (insignificant)

   En lumpen femtiolapp var allt jag fick som tack

   A paltry 50 kronor bill was all I got as thanks

Declension

Inflection of lumpen

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	lumpen	lumpnare	lumpnast
neuter singular	lumpet	lumpnare	lumpnast
plural	lumpna	lumpnare	lumpnast
masculine plural2	lumpne	lumpnare	lumpnast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	lumpne	lumpnare	lumpnaste
all	lumpna	lumpnare	lumpnaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Noun

lumpen c

1. (informal) military service

   Synonym: militärtjänstgöring

   göra lumpen ― to do military service

   ligga i lumpen ― to do military service

Related terms

• lumpare (“conscript doing military service”)

See also

• värnplikt

References

• lumpen in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• lumpen in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• lumpen in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)