Meaning & use
moneyed
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Meaning
adjectivebefore a nounformal
Having a lot of money, especially from long-held family wealth.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: the moneyed classes.
Patterns
- moneyed people
- the moneyed classes
The theater drew a moneyed crowd from the city's richest neighborhoods.
He married into a moneyed family with a house on the lake.
Moneyed investors bought most of the new apartments.
Common combinations
- moneyed classes
- The moneyed classes held their parties in the old mansions.
- moneyed families
- Moneyed families sent their children to elite schools.
- moneyed background
- She came from a moneyed background.
- moneyed elite
- The moneyed elite shaped local politics.
- moneyed interests
- Moneyed interests lobbied against the tax.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wealthy
- Wealthy is the ordinary word for having a lot of money and does not stress old family money.
- affluent
- Affluent is neutral and often used for prosperous areas, where moneyed suggests established wealth.
- well-off
- Well-off is informal and describes comfortable means without suggesting great riches.
- rich
- Rich is the plainest and most direct, with none of the social class suggestion of moneyed.
Opposites
Word family
- money noun
- currency
- moneyless adjective
- without money (rare)
- monetary adjective
- relating to money
- moneybags noun
- an informal word for a rich person
Commonly confused: moneyed or monetary?
moneyed vs monetary
Monetary means related to money in general, such as monetary policy, but moneyed means having plenty of it.
Practice
The charity dinner attracted a ____ crowd of bankers and business owners.
Choose one answer.
Moneyed describes wealthy people. Monetary relates to money systems, and moneyless would mean the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “moneyed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.