barbarian

American  

[bahr-bair-ee-uhn] / bɑrˈbɛər i ən /

noun

barbarians plural

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.

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adjective

1. uncivilized; crude; savage.

   Synonyms:

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

   Antonyms:

   civilized, cultivated

2. foreign; alien.

barbarian British  

/ bɑːˈbɛərɪən /

noun

1. a member of a primitive or uncivilized people

2. a coarse, insensitive, or uncultured person

3. a vicious person

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adjective

1. of an uncivilized culture

2. insensitive, uncultured, or brutal

Usage

What does barbarian mean? The word barbarian is used to refer to a person who’s considered extremely crude and uncivilized. It can also be used as an adjective meaning crude or uncivilized. There are several related words that are used in the context of people or things considered uncivilized or cruel, including the adjectives barbaric and barbarous and the nouns barbarism and barbarity. The term barbarian was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to refer to any foreigner. In ancient and medieval times, it was variously used to refer to non-Greeks, non-Romans, and non-Christians. The term eventually became associated with a stereotypical image of barbarians as primitive and brutish. For example, movies and comic strips often depict people they call barbarians as dressing in animal skins and carrying simple weapons, like wooden clubs. Like the word savage, the word barbarian can be very offensive due to its use to dehumanize the people that it’s applied to, especially in a way that calls attention to their otherness or the supposed primitiveness of their culture or customs. Still, barbarian is often used in an exaggerated way to refer to a person who behaves in a way considered crude or brutish. This use of the word focuses on a person’s crude behavior and is not intended to imply any sense of foreignness. It’s often intended to be lighthearted and humorous. Example: Boys, please don’t track mud through the house like a bunch of barbarians!

Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• barbarianism
  noun
• half-barbarian
  adjective
• nonbarbarian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• barbarians
  plural

Etymology

Origin of barbarian

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

Explanation

Barbarian is an insulting word for a person from an uncivilized culture or a person with no manners. Barbarians aren't known for their etiquette. Those barbarians — back in ancient times they were always invading and pillaging and generally unleashing their fury on the more "civilized" Greeks and Romans. The barbarian hordes are long gone, but we still use this word as an insult for anyone who's acting rude, uncultured, or particularly savage. If you pick up a whole turkey leg and start gnawing like an animal at the dinner table, the other guests might call you a barbarian.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barbarian barbarians

Launched in an era where machismo meant a goofy wrestler or metal singer with an eight-octave falsetto, the steroidal beskirted barbarian has always been a bit ridiculous.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

When Augustine died in 430, the Vandals, a barbarian people who had crossed the Rhine decades earlier and already fought their way through Gaul and Iberia, had reached the gates of Hippo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

The barbarian monarchs of the West sent hordes east—a counterinvasion we call the First Crusade.

From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2024

Moving between ages seems to be linked to crises - like barbarian invasions, civil wars and plagues - though exactly how this will work is unclear.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2024

"And lastly, O my resourceful son," said the Tisroc, "you have made clear how all this might give you the barbarian woman, but not how it helps me to the overthrowing of Narnia."

From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis

Prior civilizations fell to barbarians at the gates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

They don’t trust us barbarians to care about a world that doesn’t look like our own.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025

Rainer leads the hapless dame into a sparkling cavern, where the queen of the barbarians herself, Conann, is perched on a high tower, clutching a human heart that looks more like a Christmas tree ornament.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

Prof Scull said it all suggests "we have been underestimating the sophistication and capacity of the societies of 5th to 7th Century England" seeing them as post-Roman barbarians.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2023

It is not the case that all cultural advances in East Asia stemmed from China and that Koreans, Japanese, and tropical Southeast Asians were noninventive barbarians who contributed nothing.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond