barbarian

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"For the barbarian is the man who regards his passions as their own excuse for being, who does not domesticate them either by understanding their cause, or by conceiving their ideal goal."

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A member of a people considered by those of another nation or group to have a primitive civilization.
  2. noun A fierce, brutal, or cruel person.
  3. noun An insensitive, uncultured person; a boor. See Synonyms at boor.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Here Shakespeare was described as a barbarian, whose works--'a huge dunghill'--concealed some pearls French critics' gradual emancipation from Voltairean influence Although Voltaire's censure was rejected by the majority of later French critics, it expressed a sentiment born of the genius of the nation, and made an impression that was only gradually effaced. —  A Life of William Shakespeare with portraits and facsimiles
  • The origin of the word barbarian, barbarus, or is unknown, and its primary sense can be only conjectured. —  The American Republic : constitution, tendencies and destiny
  • The king's persistency in begging her not to veil so austerely a face which the gods had made for the admiration of men, his evident vexation upon her refusal to appear in Greek costume at the sacrifices and public solemnities, his unsparing raillery at what he termed her barbarian shyness, all tended to convince her that the young Heracleid had sought to admit some one into those mysteries which should remain secret to all, for without his encouragement no man could have dared to risk himself in an undertaking the discovery of which would have resulted in the punishment of a speedy death How slowly did the black hours seem to her to pass! —  King Candaules
  • Now I shall show that these characteristics of the barbarian are rudimental points, as I may call them, in the picture of the Turks, as drawn by those who have studied them. —  Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity
  • 132. Explain the words "barbarian," "Scythian," in Col. iii. 11. —  The Life of St. Paul
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

savage ·  pirate ·  warrior ·  brute ·  invader ·  rebel ·  tyrant ·  peasant ·  ruffian ·  native ·  goblin ·  tribe

Used in the same contextWord Family

barbarian:   barbarians
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French barbarien, from barbare, barbarous, from Latin barbarus; see barbarous.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French barbarien, from barbarie, from Latin barbaria, barbarousness (see barbary), from barbarus, barbarous, a barbarian: see barbarous and -ian.
 

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/bɑrˈbeɪriən/
by American Heritage

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