Jump To:

• babbitt
  babbitt

  noun

  Babbitt metal.
• Babbitt
  Babbitt

  noun

  Irving, 1865–1933, U.S. educator and critic.

babbitt

¹ American  

[bab-it] / ˈbæb ɪt /

noun

1. Babbitt metal.

2. a bearing or lining of Babbitt metal.

---

adjective

1. pertaining to or made of Babbitt metal.

verb (used with object)

1. to line, face, or furnish with Babbitt metal.

Babbitt ² American  

[bab-it] / ˈbæb ɪt /

noun

1. Irving, 1865–1933, U.S. educator and critic.

2. Milton Byron, 1916–2011, U.S. composer.

3. (italics) a novel (1922) by Sinclair Lewis.

4. (often lowercase) a self-satisfied person who conforms readily to conventional, middle-class ideas and ideals, especially of business and material success; Philistine: from the main character in the novel by Sinclair Lewis.

---

Babbitt ¹ British  

/ ˈbæbɪt /

noun

1. derogatory a narrow-minded and complacent member of the middle class

---

babbitt ² British  

/ ˈbæbɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to line (a bearing) or face (a surface) with Babbitt metal or a similar soft alloy

---

Babbitt Cultural  

1. (1922) A novel by Sinclair Lewis. The title character, an American real estate agent in a small city, is portrayed as a crass, loud, overoptimistic boor who thinks only about money and speaks in clichés, such as “You've gotta have pep, by golly!”

---

Discover More

By extension, a “Babbitt” is a narrow-minded, materialistic businessman.

Other Word Forms

• Babbittry
  noun

---

Etymology

Origin of babbitt

First recorded in 1900–05; short for Babbitt metal

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

babbitt Babbitt

Varying proportions of copper and tin give gun metal, bell metal, babbitt metal and many another alloy, the greater the percentage of tin the harder being the resulting composition.

From Time Magazine Archive

Advantages, claimed in a Du Pont patent: no lubrication required; less friction, vibration, heat; longer wear and ability to carry heavier loads than bearings made of bronze, brass, babbitt metal.

From Time Magazine Archive

Balzac was a cross between a babbitt and a stroke of lightning.

From Time Magazine Archive

He, a kindly babbitt, understands and finally helps Patsy to find the arms of the realtor.

From Time Magazine Archive

Over one-third of the antimony consumed in the United States is alloyed with tin and copper in the manufacture of babbitt or bearing-metal.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

For example, it had nothing to do with the chance music of John Cage or the meticulously plotted complications of Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter, the American heroes of ’70s modernism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026

It was a blueprint for what was to come, he said of Babbitt: “The blondeness is important, the smallness is important, but so is the camouflage of being a veteran.”

From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2026

Randy Babbitt - a former head of the FAA - told the NewsNation network: "They have very, very high standards to be an air traffic controller. Diversity has nothing to do with it."

From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2025

Babbitt said one key question will be where the federal government can find money for a long-term program aimed at scaling back agricultural water use.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2024

And this had happened because I had read a novel about a mythical man called George F. Babbitt.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---