barbarity
Americannoun
plural
barbarities-
brutal or inhuman conduct; cruelty.
-
an act or instance of cruelty or inhumanity.
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crudity of style, taste, expression, etc.
noun
-
the state or condition of being barbaric or barbarous
-
a brutal or vicious act
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a crude or unsophisticated quality, style, expression, etc
Etymology
Origin of barbarity
Explanation
Barbarity is a vicious kind of cruelty. Deliberately inflicting terrible pain and suffering on other people is barbarity. While true barbarity reaches the level of torture, this noun is also used as an exaggerated way to say "an absence of civility or culture." Feet on the table at dinner? That's utter barbarity! Leaving your trash on the ground after a picnic? Total barbarity! "Want of civilization" is actually the original definition of barbarity — "savage cruelty" came about a hundred years later, in the 1680s.
Vocabulary lists containing barbarity
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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"Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife," Vocabulary from the literary criticism
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"The Iliad" by Homer, Book 22
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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.
But Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said Sunday that "there is no justification whatsoever for the barbarity committed," calling it "an unforgivable act of irrationality."
From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025
The sheer barbarity of these scenes may explain why they haven’t garnered more attention.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2024
Earlier Mr Macron visited the school and condemned the "barbarity of Islamist terrorism".
From BBC • Oct. 13, 2023
The Empire is ... crucially, subjects that go about their daily lives ignoring or enthusiastically supporting barbarity in the name of law and order, out of fear or simply for personal gain.
From Salon • Nov. 28, 2022
This fact may calm the apprehensions of those very humane persons who look upon experimental physiologists as very monsters of barbarity.
From Curiosities of Medical Experience by Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
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.
