barbarous
Americanadjective
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uncivilized; wild; savage; crude.
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savagely cruel or harsh.
The prisoners of war were given barbarous treatment.
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full of harsh sounds; noisy; discordant.
an evening of wild and barbarous music.
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not conforming to classical standards or accepted usage, as language.
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foreign; alien.
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(among ancient Greeks) designating a person or thing of non-Greek origin.
adjective
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uncivilized; primitive
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brutal or cruel
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lacking refinement
Related Words
See barbarian.
Other Word Forms
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barbarouslyadverb
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barbarousnessnoun
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hyperbarbarousadjective
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hyperbarbarouslyadverb
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hyperbarbarousnessnoun
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nonbarbarousadjective
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nonbarbarouslyadverb
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nonbarbarousnessnoun
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prebarbarousadjective
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prebarbarouslyadverb
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prebarbarousnessnoun
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unbarbarousadjective
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unbarbarouslyadverb
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unbarbarousnessnoun
Etymology
Origin of barbarous
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin barbarus < Greek bárbaros non-Greek, foreign, barbarian; akin to Sanskrit barbara stammering, non-Aryan; see -ous
Explanation
To be barbarous is to be vicious and cruel or simply uncivilized. Wearing a leopard-pelt skirt and swatting at people with a wooden club is barbarous, and so is eating spaghetti with your hands. Barbarous can describe a terrible, savage act, like mass murder or torture, but it can also describe people who are uncultured. It sounds better if you say it in a British accent. If a tribe of people who knew nothing about the modern world were discovered, they would be considered barbarous. To many, living without electricity seems barbarous. Barbarous is the opposite of refined and cultured.
Vocabulary lists containing barbarous
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Negative Words to Describe a Person
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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 the gains in that barbarous relic, gold, have surpassed the AI-powered stock bull run.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
Everyone was looking at the culprit, the younger staff in shock, his peers with shades of anger, Saron faintly smiling, barbarous with his own power.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 11, 2025
"I will fight this barbarous and inhumane practice - just the thought of it makes me sick."
From BBC • Sep. 22, 2023
He cited Philippine national hero Jose Rizal’s description of justice “as the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It subdues the barbarous nations while injustice arouses the weakest.”
From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2023
They’d put the bad mouth on their aunt’s first American day; you had to sweeten their noisy barbarous mouths.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
