barbarism
Americannoun
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barbarisms
plural
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a barbarous or uncivilized state or condition.
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a barbarous act; something belonging to or befitting a barbarous condition.
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the use in a language of forms or constructions felt by some to be undesirably alien to the established standards of the language.
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such a form or construction.
Some people consider “complected” as a barbarism.
noun
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a brutal, coarse, or ignorant act
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the condition of being backward, coarse, or ignorant
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a substandard or erroneously constructed or derived word or expression; solecism
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any act or object that offends against accepted taste
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of barbarism
1570–80; < Latin barbarismus < Greek barbarismós foreign way of speaking. See barbarous, -ism
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Mr. Berg, unlike Messrs. Spielberg and Gibson, shines a light on the barbarism and racism of some U.S. troops and the staggering number of civilian casualties.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
“Whoever ordered and committed this barbarism will pay for it,” vowed Zacatecas Gov. David Monreal, a member of Mexico’s ruling Morena political bloc.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The Human Rights Commission of the Rio state legislature will demand "explanations" of how the favela was turned into a "theater of war and barbarism," commission head Dani Monteiro told AFP on Tuesday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2025
It was taken in 1863 and reproduced across the North during the Civil War as an example of the barbarism of slavery.
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2025
An enraged President Reagan called the downing of Korean Airlines flight 007 "an act of barbarism."
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Did/do they really believe they help patients with such barbarisms?
From Scientific American ● May 16, 2012
A big problem for me as a children's football coach, however, is that these cliches and verbal barbarisms are all too often directed at children.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 31, 2011
His writings have charged the West with soulless materialism and his fellow Africans with barbarisms and corruption.
From Time Magazine Archive
Denver's Gerald Kopel, a former newsman-turned-lawyer, crams his students by simulating actual exams and blasting bad spellers for such barbarisms as adultary, devorse, drunkedness.
From Time Magazine Archive
Is it credible that there should be educated men in the present day who yearn after these barbarisms, and have no sympathy with the struggles made by subsequent artists to get free from their influence?
From Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various
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