(sometimes initial capital letter) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.
(initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.
(sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.
smugly commonplace or conventional.
(initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.
a person who is unreceptive to or hostile towards culture, the arts, etc; a smug boorish person
a member of the non-Semitic people who inhabited ancient Philistia
(sometimes not capital) boorishly uncultured
of or relating to the ancient Philistines
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin Philistīnī (plural) < Late Greek Philistînoi < Hebrew pəlishtīm
A philistine is a person who doesn’t think a lot and isn't interested in learning. Your uncle Marvin, who's only interested in eating, sleeping, and watching game shows, could be considered a philistine. In the late 17th century, during a conflict in Jena, Germany, between townspeople and students, someone referred to the townspeople as “Philistines.” Since then, philistine has described someone who stands against learning and the arts. And if you don’t start reading the great Russian authors, someone might suggest that you have a philistine attitude toward literature — the word can also be used as an adjective describing a person or thing that displays indifference to the arts and intellectual pursuits.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Woe betide the philistine who requests a salt shaker or asks that a meticulously prepared dish be spice-bombed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Discovery is expected to come under Paramount Skydance’s ownership, placing TCM under the stewardship of David Ellison, a man who many in Hollywood also consider to be a cultural philistine.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
Simply put, if you can’t take Duchamp or conceptual art seriously, you are a philistine, by the definition of the art world.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2022
The resort, where much of the drama takes place, exerts its gaudy, philistine pull on the four main characters.
From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2021
The Jerry philistine proceeded to wad everything I could remember of “Tam o’Shanter” into balls of wastepaper.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Samson’s self-sacrifice in defeating his Philistine enemies was used by Samuel Adams and others to illustrate the “zeal” of the Sons of Liberty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
It was built on the site of an ancient Philistine temple before being converted into a church and then a mosque.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2024
Part of an ancient Philistine confederacy of five cities along the coastal plain, it featured in Biblical accounts: the judge Samson was held in captivity there.
From Reuters ● Nov. 2, 2023
The Hebrew kings founded a capital at Jerusalem, which had been a Philistine town.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020
Davenport was a Philistine, not worth mentioning, but the Italian was somber and polite, quite charming.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
