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“barbarian”
barbarian (adjective) (not comparable)
Uncultivated, uncultured, crude, unsophisticated, uncouth: The artist accused the public of having barbarian tastes.
1. Historically, someone who was not a Greek; a barbaryn (old spelling): A barbarian became a person living outside the boundary of the Roman empire and its civilization. The term was applied especially to the northern nations that overthrew them and then followed by anyone who existed outside the realm of Christian civilization.
2. A rude, savage, alien, wild, uncivilized person: Tom said that his next-door neighbor was a barbarian because he threw his garbage over the fence, screamed wildly in the street, especially at night, and always used vulgar language.
3. An uncultured person, or someone who has no sympathy with literary culture: Mary said her brother was a barbarian who had absolutely no appreciation of art, music, theater performances, and never read a book of any kind.
4. Applied by nations, generally depreciatively, to foreigners: Thus barbarians were those living at various times and the term was used with various speakers or writers, for example for non-Hellenic, non-Roman (most usual), and non-Christian people.
5. A foreigner, one whose language and customs differ from the speaker's: Sally's friend Tom thought that the man from France was a barbarian because he didn't even try to speak English, and the French guy wasn't even interested in any English traditions although he was living in England.
6. Etymology: from Greek barbaros, "non-Greek, foreign, barbarous," from an Indo-European imitative base barb, "to stammer, stutter; and unintelligible." The Greeks were quoted as saying that foreigners sounded as if they were saying, "Barbar, Barbar," which was, for the Greeks, unintelligible.
2. A rude, savage, alien, wild, uncivilized person: Tom said that his next-door neighbor was a barbarian because he threw his garbage over the fence, screamed wildly in the street, especially at night, and always used vulgar language.
3. An uncultured person, or someone who has no sympathy with literary culture: Mary said her brother was a barbarian who had absolutely no appreciation of art, music, theater performances, and never read a book of any kind.
4. Applied by nations, generally depreciatively, to foreigners: Thus barbarians were those living at various times and the term was used with various speakers or writers, for example for non-Hellenic, non-Roman (most usual), and non-Christian people.
5. A foreigner, one whose language and customs differ from the speaker's: Sally's friend Tom thought that the man from France was a barbarian because he didn't even try to speak English, and the French guy wasn't even interested in any English traditions although he was living in England.
6. Etymology: from Greek barbaros, "non-Greek, foreign, barbarous," from an Indo-European imitative base barb, "to stammer, stutter; and unintelligible." The Greeks were quoted as saying that foreigners sounded as if they were saying, "Barbar, Barbar," which was, for the Greeks, unintelligible.
Barbarian, from Latin barbarus. It seems to have signified, at first, only a foreign or a foreigner; but, in time, it implied some degree of wildness or cruelty.
barbarian, barbarians; barbarian, barbaric, barbarism, barbarous
barbarian (bar BAIR ee uhn) (noun)
1. Savage, alien, outlander: The city barricaded itself against the invading barbarians.
2. Hoodlum, roughneck: Young barbarians have defaced public buildings throughout the city.
3. Anti-intellectual, lowbrow, illiterate: The barbarian in the audience jeered the composer's new work.
2. Hoodlum, roughneck: Young barbarians have defaced public buildings throughout the city.
3. Anti-intellectual, lowbrow, illiterate: The barbarian in the audience jeered the composer's new work.
barbarian (bar BAIR ee uhn) (adjective)
Uncultivated, uncultured, crude: The artist accused the public of having barbarian tastes.
barbaric (bar BAIR ik) (adjective)
1. Uncivilized, savage, wild: The Huns were notorious for their barbaric cruelty.
The tribal dance was a spectacle of barbaric splendor.
2. Coarse, uncouth, crude, ill-mannered, vulgar, rude: Charley's behavior with the guests was barbaric and embarrassing.barbarism (BAR bur iz'm) (noun)
1. An instance, an act, a trait, or a custom marked by coarseness or brutality: When Scot slapped the child with such harshness, his barbarism resulted in his being arrested by the police.
2. The use of words or forms felt to be incorrect or nonstandard; a specific word or form so used: Using the word "ain't" is considered a barbarism.
2. The use of words or forms felt to be incorrect or nonstandard; a specific word or form so used: Using the word "ain't" is considered a barbarism.
barbarous (BAR bur uhs) (adjective)
1. Cruel, brutal, harsh: It is barbarous to keep a large dog cooped up like that.
2. Coarse, crude, vulgar: The letter of complaint was written in barbarous English.
2. Coarse, crude, vulgar: The letter of complaint was written in barbarous English.
Shelby's friend, who was an English teacher, constantly commented about the barbarous language written by some of her pupils.
"Really, they are little barbarians whose previous years of schooling did nothing to tame their barbaric ways; they often use such barbarisms as 'Yo' instead of calling the person by name."
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group B; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc.
(page 2)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“barbarian”
A non-Greek; although the term was originally not pejorative, or a bad connotation: Over time, the Greeks started to think of themselves as culturally superior to the barbarians.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Herodotus, The Fifth-Century B.C. Greek Traveler and Historian
(page 1)