barbarism

[bahr-buh-riz-uhm]

noun

1. a barbarous or uncivilized state or condition.

2. a barbarous act; something belonging to or befitting a barbarous condition.

3. the use in a language of forms or constructions felt by some to be undesirably alien to the established standards of the language.

4. such a form or construction.

   Some people consider “complected” as a barbarism.

barbarism

/ ˈbɑːbəˌrɪzəm /

noun

1. a brutal, coarse, or ignorant act

2. the condition of being backward, coarse, or ignorant

3. a substandard or erroneously constructed or derived word or expression; solecism

4. any act or object that offends against accepted taste

Other Word Forms

• hyperbarbarism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbarism¹

1570–80; < Latin barbarismus < Greek barbarismós foreign way of speaking. See barbarous, -ism

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbarism¹

C16: from Latin barbarismus error of speech, from Greek barbarismos , from barbaros _barbarous

Example Sentences

If Mr. Safdie’s intent is to make the fights seem like meaningless barbarism, he has succeeded.

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It’s a movie that tackles what it means for young people to volunteer for organized barbarism out of desperate need — as well as the consumption of their destruction as entertainment.

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Within weeks, Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” was on public display, boosting global revulsion at such barbarism.

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That descent into “barbarism” was not lost on contemporary observers.

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The barbarism is in sync with the belief that “no innocent people” are in Gaza.

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Related Words

• atrocity 
• barbarity 
• brutality 
• cruelty 
• inhumanity