Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Merely mechanical; routine: "a sensitive, self-conscious creature . . . in sad revolt against uncongenially banausic employment” ( London Magazine).
- adj. Of or relating to a mechanic.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Merely mechanical; characteristic of mechanics or a mechanic.
Wiktionary
- adj. Mechanical; materialistic, uncultured.
- adj. utilitarian
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (formal) ordinary and not refined
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek βαναυσικός (banausikos, "of or for mechanics"), from βάναυσος (banausos, "mechanical, ironsmith"), from βαύνος (baunos, "furnace, forge"). (Wiktionary)
- Greek banausikos, from banausos, mechanic. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“They used the term banausic for the low-cast, cringing souls involved in the making of things.”
“The term "banausic" comes from philosophy and concerns "the illiberal or vulgar arts," subjects with which Vidal has frequently dealt.”
“The gainful occupations, or any occupations pursued for gain, were "banausic," which meant that they had an effect opposite to that of cultivation.”
Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals
“Reporters must be honest in online personas, but not blah and banausic « Spreader of Gossip & Vice at 12:16 am, September 29, 2009”
Is transparency the new objectivity? 2 visions of journos on social media » Nieman Journalism Lab
“So unromantic, so banausic, so thoroughly unappealing, yet for all that imponderably heroic.”
“The Greeks preferred the theoretical, the leisurely, to the busy banausic, or mechanical, life of labor.”
“Perhaps Mr. Mazzocco's inventive use of the English language is the source of the confusion, with his "irriguous" organ and "banausic" muse which go "havocking" about the western world.”
“The Genoese, cavalier, are a banausic race, and penurious at that; they will go where the devil cannot, which is between the oak and the rind; opportunity given, they would sneak the breeches off a highlander: they divide their time between commercialism and a licentiousness of which, sordid as it is, they habitually beat down the price.”
“Compare the category of banausic trades in _de Off_, 1. 42. 150, although in the”
A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate
“· Provides simple and banausic user management tool, to manage CHAP users.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘banausic’.
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
babeldom, baccate, bacchanal, bacciferous, bacciform, baccivorous, bacillicide, backstay, bactericide, baculiform, baculine, baculum and 582 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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All The Words
I enjoy collecting words, for I have no fear of them ever running out.
anacoluthon, defenestration, hypnopomp, hypnagogue, idioglossia, panopticon, tatterdemalion, abalone, caltrop, miasma, paroxysm, smalt and 491 more...
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Most Obscure Words
acatalectic, acosmism, acuate, acuminate, adscititious, adytum, akratisma, alieniloquy, allelomorph, allochiria, allodium, alnage and 620 more...
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Vega's Logophile Dictionary
Words I've heard/read in use, words being learnt, words that I want to eventually use in everyday language, words that are high-brow and elitist and scholarly and obscure, words that display the wo...
parsimonious, torpor, recalcitrant, plebeian, vitriol, gumption, augur, aestival, celerity, diaphanous, farrago, nonpareil and 287 more...
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bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1459 more...
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timrmortiss's list
compotation, deodand, lignify, obstreperous, noetic, promantia, nostrum, cynosure, sesquipedalian, callipygian, inchoate, hortatory and 93 more...
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NeoVolt's Words
schadenfreude, serendipity, idiosyncrasy, loess, caducous, vagary, schematic, steeple, licentious, tangential, verisimilitude, vernacular and 385 more...
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GMAT
part of speech, frown, brow, immensely, immense, incomprehensible, toil, concision, concise, proper noun, hyphenated, dash and 190 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1387 more...
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smart pple werdz
petard, anxiogenic, paratactic, nonce, baldachin, eugenic, conflagration, innervate, counterfactual, corpuscular, reticulate, apodictic and 93 more...
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tez's Words
tain, curlicue, eidolon, exoteric, puissant, ragamuffin, insouciant, yarrow, taciturn, mundane, vomitorium, tenebre and 140 more...
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Collage's Words
subtle, calamity, impale, qat, painterly, piebald, surly, nihilistic, repine, slake, larder, sepulchre and 349 more...
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redtagevent's Words
exiguous, numen, recondite, concatenate, tuistic, interstitial, peroration, asperity, alacrity, expatiate, farouche, rhodomontade and 112 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for banausic.
jmjarmstrong JM is calling all banausic folk to sit down and remain uncounted, please. Jul 16, 2010
darqueau I am only banausic Feb 5, 2009
sionnach Verdammte Kulturbanausen! In den Worten von Götz von Berlichingen ..... Mozart KV 231 Dec 1, 2008
bilby Not banausic today. Dec 1, 2008
Prolagus Yes, we are not banausic. Nov 30, 2008
garyth123 Picked this up reading Stephen Fry. Nov 30, 2008