barbarize

American  

[bahr-buh-rahyz] / ˈbɑr bəˌraɪz /

especially British, barbarise

verb (used with object)

barbarized, barbarizing

1. to make barbarous; brutalize; corrupt.

   foreign influences barbarizing the Latin language.

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verb (used without object)

barbarized, barbarizing

1. to become barbarous; lapse into barbarism.

2. to use barbarisms in speaking or writing.

barbarize British  

/ ˈbɑːbəˌraɪz /

verb

1. to make or become barbarous

2. to use barbarisms in (language)

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Other Word Forms

• barbarization noun
• debarbarize verb (used with object)
• unbarbarize verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of barbarize

1635–45; partly < Greek barbarízein, equivalent to bárbar ( os ) barbarian + -izein -ize; partly barbar(ous) + -ize

Example Sentences

The group is the latest evidence of a near-universal human capacity to barbarize those seen as “others,” as nonbelievers, and treat them as a different form of life.

From Washington Post

The Roman empire was barbarizing rapidly from the time of Trajan.

From Project Gutenberg

Not knowing what to do with the flower border, we barbarized instead of cultivating it.

From Project Gutenberg

Its use had to be learnt from French masters of deportment; the old magniloquent Italo-Spanish rapier jargon was forgotten; French terms, barbarized into carte, tierce, sagoon, flanquonade, and so forth, were alone understood.

From Project Gutenberg

In a sense the Roman empire had been already “barbarized” before the invasions of the barbarians en masse.

From Project Gutenberg