philistine

[fil-uh-steen, -stahyn, fi-lis-tin, -teen] Origin

phil·is·tine

[fil-uh-steen, -stahyn, fi-lis-tin, -teen]
noun
1.
(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.
2.
(initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.
adjective
3.
(sometimes initial capital letter) lacking in or hostile to culture.
4.
smugly commonplace or conventional.
5.
(initial capital letter) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.

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Philistine is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin Philistīnī (plural) < Late Greek Philistînoi < Hebrew pəlishtīm

phil·is·tin·ism [fil-uh-stee-niz-uhm, -stahy-, fi-lis-tuh-niz-uhm, -tee-] , noun


1. Babbitt, vulgarian. 3. lowbrow.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
Philistine (ˈfɪlɪˌstaɪn)
 
n
1.  a person who is unreceptive to or hostile towards culture, the arts, etc; a smug boorish person
2.  a member of the non-Semitic people who inhabited ancient Philistia
 
adj
3.  (sometimes not capital) boorishly uncultured
4.  of or relating to the ancient Philistines
 
Philistinism
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

Philistine
O.T. people of coastal Palestine, who made war on the Israelites, mid-14c., from O.Fr. Philistin, from L.L. Philistinus, from Late Gk. Philistinoi, from Heb. P'lishtim, "people of P'lesheth" ("Philistia"); cf. Akkad. Palastu, Egyptian Palusata; the word probably is the people's name for itself.
EXPAND

philistine
"person deficient in liberal culture," 1827, originally in Carlyle, popularized by him and Matthew Arnold, from Ger. Philister "enemy of God's word," lit. "Philistine," inhabitants of a Biblical land, neighbors (and enemies) of Israel (see Philistine). Popularized in
Ger. student slang (supposedly first in Jena, late 17c.) as a contemptuous term for "townies," and hence, by extension, "any uncultured person." Philistine had been used in a humorous fig. sense of "the enemy" in Eng. from c.1600.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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