well-to-do

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌwɛltəˈdu/

• Audio (US)

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well-to-do (comparative more well-to-do, superlative most well-to-do)

1. Rich, prosperous, financially stable and comfortable.

   Some philosophers aver that the well-to-do should be taxed at a higher rate than poorer people.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

   • 2023 August 23, Nigel Harris, “Comment: End damaging drift at Euston”, in RAIL, number 990, page 3:

     There was a single arrivals platform, nearest to King's Cross. The large arch beneath the clock gave access to Hansom carriages clip-clopping up the cobbled ramp from the main gate in Euston Road, directly onto the platform, to meet well-to-do passengers.

• affluent, well-fixed, well-heeled; for more, see Thesaurus:wealthy