1. a citizen or inhabitant of a town or city, especially a member of the middle class or merchant class in a medieval or early modern town
Usage: often historical or formal; common in European contexts
2. a person of the middle class; a bourgeois
Usage: sometimes used with a critical or dismissive tone

Examples

• The burghers of Amsterdam grew wealthy through trade in the 17th century.
• Medieval burghers formed guilds to protect their commercial interests.
• The town council was composed mainly of wealthy burghers and merchants.
• As a burgher, he enjoyed certain rights and privileges denied to rural peasants.
• The burghers demanded representation in the city's government.
• She came from a family of respectable burghers in the merchant district.