philistine
(sometimes initial capital letter) a person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.
(initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.
(sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.
smugly commonplace or conventional.
(initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.
Origin of philistine
1Other words for philistine
Other words from philistine
- phil·is·tin·ism [fil-uh-stee-niz-uhm, -stahy-, fi-lis-tuh-niz-uhm, -tee-], /ˈfɪl ə stiˌnɪz əm, -staɪ-, fɪˈlɪs təˌnɪz əm, -ti-/, noun
Words Nearby philistine
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use philistine in a sentence
I’d guess that, as with so many other posts, an arts czar’s job would have gone unfilled in the current philistine administration.
The culture is ailing. It’s time for a Dr. Fauci for the arts. | Peter Marks | December 2, 2020 | Washington PostWe are encouraged to “meet the artisan,” which may have you philistine-ishly reaching for the Doritos.
Lest you think GWS is a snooty philistine, I'll share that I'm a great lover of old English villages and towns.
Before forty there is yet a chance that the budding ninny may desert, and degenerate into a prig, a philistine, or a physician.
They are a philistine remodelling of the Biblical drama, in the same style as his historical pictures.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) | Richard Muther
He may have been a philistine, as Mr. Symonds calls him, but he was surely a philistine of genius.
The Palace of Pleasure, Volume 1 | William PainterTo console themselves for their failure they have invented the word philistine, which expresses their contempt for the public.
The conquest of Rome | Matilde SeraoThe pressure of philistine conquest at last forced the Israelites with a common voice to "demand a king."
Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations | Archibald Sayce
British Dictionary definitions for Philistine
/ (ˈfɪlɪˌstaɪn) /
a person who is unreceptive to or hostile towards culture, the arts, etc; a smug boorish person
a member of the non-Semitic people who inhabited ancient Philistia
(sometimes not capital) boorishly uncultured
of or relating to the ancient Philistines
Derived forms of Philistine
- Philistinism (ˈfɪlɪstɪˌnɪzəm), noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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