"Tom Joad" meaning in English

See Tom Joad in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: Tom Joads [plural]
Etymology: From the character from the novel The Grapes of Wrath. Head templates: {{en-noun}} Tom Joad (plural Tom Joads)
  1. A working class man seen as a voice for ordinary people. Wikipedia link: The Grapes of Wrath
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          "ref": "2008, Dennis McDougal, Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times, Turner Publishing Company:",
          "text": "While he strove to remain what Peter Fonda called the \"Tom Joad of our era,\" he was rivaled only by Arnold Schwarzenegger as the wealthiest man in showbiz.",
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          "ref": "2012, Gary Weiss, Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul, St. Martin's Press:",
          "text": "Rand had become the Tom Joad of the right. One could almost hear her saying: \"Wherever there's a fight where rich people can get richer, I'll be there. Wherever there's a regulator beating up on a banker, I'll be there.\"",
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          "ref": "2005, Chris Willman, Rednecks & Bluenecks: The Politics of Country Music, New PRess, page 110:",
          "text": "But rather than seeing Moore or Garafalo (or others) as empathetic modern-day Tom Joads, your typical middle American sees something akin to the face of Harry Dean Stanton in Repo Man, intoning the immortal words: \"Ordinary fuckin' people... I hate 'em.\" It's the definition of disconnect.",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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