levellers
levellers Lexical Profile
levellers Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British Plural form of leveller: people or forces that remove social, economic, or status distinctions and promote equality.
"Shared hardships and universal education often act as great social levellers within a community."
Members of a 17th-century English political movement during the English Civil War that advocated popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance.
"During the Putney Debates of 1647, the Levellers argued fiercely for a new constitutional settlement based on natural rights."
British Plural form of leveller: tools, machines, or workers that make a surface flat, even, or horizontal.
"The road crew used heavy mechanical levellers to grade the gravel foundation before laying the asphalt."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The historical political sense originated as a term of abuse during the English Civil War in the 1640s, applied by opponents to reformers accused of wanting to abolish private property and level all social estates.