Philistinism definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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As the steamer approached Greenwich, and the details of the aborted palace grew clearer, and he could distinguish between the genius of Jones and the genius of Wren, he felt grimly and victoriously sure that both Jones and Wren had had the best of the struggle against indifference and philistinism--as he too would have the best of the struggle, though he should die obscure and in penury.

—The Roll-Call

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Definitions (2)

American Heritage Dictionary

Century Dictionary

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

The condition, character, aims, and habits of the class called Philistines. See Philistine, 3.

WordNet (1)

a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters

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Examples (50)

With great exasperation and often depression he expressed little hope that his country would ever emerge out of its "philistinism" and embrace "rational" ideas such as he propagated. — Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 2
Even the shaven-headed members of the Martian Agricultural Collective, notorious for their philistinism, suited up and hiked the slope to stare at it. — Dozois, Gardner ; Strahan, Jonathan - SSC - The New Space Opera (v1.0)
To both of them, art was always a religion; there was no philistinism or charlatanism in the soul or the career of either. — The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 2
Still, anyone who has read this audacious, intoxicatingly eloquent record of erotic obsession understands that Nabokov created in Humbert Humbert a unique voice: A refined European gentleman swooning over the delectable philistinism of American youth, which drives him to disgustingly low behavior and impossibly high lyrical flights. — Histriomastix
The House Democratic majority wisely ignored Pence's philistinism and created other revenue streams within the stimulus that can be made available to the arts. — Daily Kos