Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A member of a fabulous or prehistoric race of people that lived in caves, dens, or holes.
- n. A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.
- n. An anthropoid ape, such as a gorilla or chimpanzee.
- n. An animal that lives underground, as an ant or a worm.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Inhabiting caverns; cavedwelling; cavernicolous; spelæan; troglodytic: specifically noting human beings, apes, and birds.
- n. A cave-dweller; a caveman; one who lives in a naturally formed cavity in the rocks, or, by extension, one who has his abode in a dwelling-place of that kind, whether constructed by enlarging a natural cave or by making an entirely new excavation. The word troglodyte is rarely used except in translating from the classic authors, or in discussions with regard to the nature of the people so denominated by them, or as applied to members of some prehistoric tribes, as those of the Mediterranean caves near Mentone, in Italy. Caves were natural places of refuge and residence in the early stages of man's development, and were very frequently thus occupied by various prehistoric races, as has been proved by explorations made in different parts of the world. These explorations have in numerous instances revealed the existence of human remains mingled with implements and ornaments made by the hand of man, together with the bones of living and extinct species of animals, the whole occurring in such a way as to prove beyond a doubt that they were contemporaneous. Several classic authors—among whom are Herodotus, Aristotle, Strabo, and Pliny—speak of the troglodytes, and give this name to cave-dwellers in various rather vaguely designated regions. Cave-dwellers still live in a few places in the United States, as some of the Yavasupai Indians in caves in the side cañous is of the Colorado river.
- n. Hence, one living in seclusion; one unacquainted with the affairs of the world.
- n. In mammalogy, an anthropoid ape of the genus Troglodytes, as the chimpanzee or the gorilla, especially the former, which was earlier known to naturalists and was called Simia troglodytes. The name is actually a misnomer, arising from some confounding or comparing of these apes with peoples who in ancient times were called
troglodytes . SeeTroglodytes , 2, and cuts underchimpanzee and gorilla. - n. In ornithology, a wren of the genus Troglodytes or family Troglodytldæ. The term is a misnomer, since no wrens live in caves.
Wiktionary
- n. A member of a supposed prehistoric race that lived in caves or holes, a caveman.
- n. by extension Anything that lives underground.
- n. A reclusive, reactionary or out-of-date person, especially if brutish.
- n. The wren, Troglodytes troglodytes.
- n. computing A person who chooses not to keep up-to-date with the latest software and hardware.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Ethnol.) One of any savage race that dwells in caves, instead of constructing dwellings; a cave dweller, or cave man. Most of the primitive races of man were troglodytes.
- n. (Zoöl.) An anthropoid ape, as the chimpanzee.
- n. (Zoöl.) The wren.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who lives in a cave
- n. one who lives in solitude
Etymologies
- From Latin trōglodyta ("cave dwelling people"), from Ancient Greek τρωγλοδύτης (trōglodutēs, "one who dwells in holes"), from τρώγλη (trōglē, "hole") + δύω (duō, "I get into"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin Trōglodytae, a people said to be cave dwellers, from Greek Trōglodutai, alteration (influenced by trōglē, hole, and -dutai, those who enter) of Trōgodutai. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It is technology utterly out of functional scale in turn pointing a finger with the label troglodyte if you even suggest alternatives.”
“He chose the word troglodyte with deliberation; it comes from a Greek word meaning cave dweller.”
The Wall Street Journal: From Savage to Savvy: A New Understanding of Chimps
“However, if someone linked to that something, even if that someone were a scum-sucking troglodyte from the slime-pits of Hell (or the Hollywood Hills, whichever), I couldn’t do jack-all squat.”
“Revenant: The difference between a gentleman and a "troglodyte" isn't that the former respects women and the latter doesn't.”
Guilt-tripping parents into getting plastic surgery for their kids.
“The difference between a gentleman and a "troglodyte" isn't that the former respects women and the latter doesn't.”
Guilt-tripping parents into getting plastic surgery for their kids.
“Scott is an erstwhile school levy volunteer who last February called me a "troglodyte" for being the only man in town bold enough to raise questions about the levy in the media.”
“For example, for the authorities on English etymology 'troglodyte' is adapted from the Latin and first attested in the middle of the sixteenth century - an example, one might be tempted to conclude, of the well-known re-birth of scientific interest in many fields that characterized this period.”
“Instead he has responded by calling the prelate a "troglodyte," and calling upon him to do penance for his remarks, leading to a tit for tat exchange that has lasted for more than two weeks.”
“The president usually offered these comments up as part of some kind of troglodyte effort to set his toadies straight on a matter of ethnic or cultural policy.”
“That night we stayed in the town of Matmata, famed for its underground "troglodyte" homes.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘troglodyte’.
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Familiar
Just a list of words
fulminate, unctuous, malediction, lumpenproletariat, descry, surfeit, sententious, supernumerary, unabashed, picayune, obliterate, decry and 112 more...
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250 Extra Spelling Words
Some more words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
cultellarius, barouche, palanquin, badelaire, cavetto, tregetour, tergiversate, rhododendron, rhadamanthine, thyrsus, cappelletti, bradycardia and 238 more...
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Nethack words
Words you mainly only encounter whilst playing Nethack.
troglodyte, skirmisher, coalesce, djinni, stripling, uncursed, Elbereth, tripe, lichen, grid bug, kobold, naiad and 16 more...
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Magoosh GRE
its a list of words borrowed from Magoosh GRE blog ,an indispensable resource for GRE test takers.
inimitable, exiguity, myriad, cornucopia, surfeit, glut, deluge, opaque, pellucid, grandiloquent, turgid, gadfly and 106 more...
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Wordplay
reticent, slammerkin, moonstruck, zephyr, gallivant, hullabaloo, pandemonium, equestrian, wallflower, martyr, threadbare, treacherous and 180 more...
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Brinstar's Words
cobalt, obfuscate, archon, wii, sniper, arcane, celerity, visage, auspicious, ether, epidemic, lich and 138 more...
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summer words 2009
how many words can I make mine this summer?
largess, hoyden, catholic, fornicatress, quean, slattern, bildungsroman, sybaritic, descresent, nodus, frittle, callipygian and 529 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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My GRE word list
polemic, ad hominem, fallacious, comity, paucity, contrite, prosaic, veracious, laconic, pugnacious, alacrity, gregarious and 176 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
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Journey to the Centre of the Earth
From the story by Jules Verne.
rhombohedral crys..., retinasphaltic re..., gehlenites, Fassaites, molybdenites, tungstates, manganese, titanite, zirconium, disenchant, mignonette, bibliomania and 101 more...
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I
The Unique
egoist, individualist, loner, hateful, asocial, inactive, anarchist, misanthrope, fascist, disturbed, bored, isolationist and 111 more...
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Phrases and words I didn't know
give up the ghost, ninja'd, coal-hole, hotting up, chancer, clave, salaryman, turf accountant, cremains, autoclave, hummingbird mind, gank and 175 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for troglodyte.

Telofy “Basically, John [McCain] is a technological troglodyte, and proud of it.”
—Reed Hundt (former FCC chairman)
Found here. Jan 28, 2010
donricklin Delicatessen is full of them! Oct 11, 2008
john Which begat a fine, fine band. Oct 23, 2007
chained_bear What a fine, fine word! Oct 23, 2007