barbarian

[ bahr-bair-ee-uhn ]

noun

1. a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.
2. a person without culture, refinement, or education; philistine.
3. (loosely) a foreigner.
4. (in ancient and medieval periods)
   1. a non-Greek.
   2. a person living outside, especially north of, the Roman Empire.
   3. a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization.
5. (among Italians during the Renaissance) a person of non-Italian origin.

adjective

1. uncivilized; crude; savage.

   Synonyms: uncultivated, ignorant, coarse, barbaric, rough, wild, primitive, rude

   Antonyms: civilized, cultivated

2. foreign; alien.

barbarian

/ bɑːˈbɛərɪən /

noun

1. a member of a primitive or uncivilized people
2. a coarse, insensitive, or uncultured person
3. a vicious person

adjective

1. of an uncivilized culture
2. insensitive, uncultured, or brutal

Derived Forms

• barˈbarianism, noun

Other Words From

• bar·bari·an·ism noun
• half-bar·bari·an adjective
• nonbar·bari·an adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbarian¹

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin barbari(a) “barbarous country” ( barbarous, -ia ) + -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbarian¹

C16: see barbarous

Synonym Study

Barbarian, barbaric, barbarous pertain to uncivilized people. Barbarian is the general word for anything uncivilized: a barbarian tribe. Barbaric has both unfavorable and mildly favorable connotations, implying crudeness of taste or practice, or conveying an idea of rude magnificence and splendor: barbaric noise. Barbarous emphasizes the inhumanity and cruelty of barbarian life: barbarous customs.

Example Sentences

I wrote my first book listening to the soundtrack to the movie Conan the Barbarian on a loop.

From The Daily Beast

Instead of thinking of a sharp distinction between "Roman" and "barbarian," we should think in terms of economic zones.

From The Daily Beast

What can explain Morris's insistence in continuing to describe whole cultures and societies as "barbarian"?

From The Daily Beast

Lastly, Levy objects to my occasional use, in the past, of the word "barbarian".

From The Daily Beast

Morris has said that “the Arab world as it is today is barbarian.”

From The Daily Beast

Christendom looked astounded upon the spectacle of a barbarian invasion bursting forth from the cellars and garrets of Paris.

From Project Gutenberg

The words, taken in a new acceptation, reveal the charming maladroitness of a northern barbarian kneeling before a Roman beauty.

From Project Gutenberg

But in each case the barbarian was not very far below the surface—any more than he is in an Englishman sometimes.

From Project Gutenberg

He turned angrily on the "barbarian" schools, that would sweep away the past, and create Humanity anew on some arbitrary plan.

From Project Gutenberg

Philip has been deemed a mere barbarian, whose victory was certain to be, and was, the death of Grecian liberty.

From Project Gutenberg