philistine

American  

[fil-uh-steen, -stahyn, fi-lis-tin, -teen] / ˈfɪl əˌstin, -ˌstaɪn, fɪˈlɪs tɪn, -tin /

noun

1. (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.

   Synonyms:

   vulgarian, Babbitt

2. (initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.

---

adjective

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.

   Synonyms:

   lowbrow

2. smugly commonplace or conventional.

3. (initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.

Philistine British  

/ ˈfɪlɪstɪˌnɪzəm, ˈfɪlɪˌstaɪn /

noun

1. a person who is unreceptive to or hostile towards culture, the arts, etc; a smug boorish person

2. a member of the non-Semitic people who inhabited ancient Philistia

---

adjective

1. (sometimes not capital) boorishly uncultured

2. of or relating to the ancient Philistines

Other Word Forms

• Philistinism noun
• philistinism noun

Etymology

Origin of philistine

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin Philistīnī (plural) < Late Greek Philistînoi < Hebrew pəlishtīm

Example Sentences

I, on the other hand, remain a philistine and a hayseed.

From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2022

Literature, cinema and theater are seen as beacons of enlightenment in a philistine world.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2020

Let me reassure you, you are not a hopeless philistine if you find this all a bit foolish.

From New York Times • Dec. 8, 2019

It ill behoves either him or Bruckner to try to frame this as evidence of a vindictive philistine world.

From The Guardian • Sep. 1, 2019

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