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barbarian

 - 4 dictionary results

bar⋅bar⋅i⋅an

  [bahr-bair-ee-uhn]
Use barbarian in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.
2. a person without culture, refinement, or education; philistine.
3. (loosely) a foreigner.
4. (in ancient and medieval periods)
a. a non-Greek.
b. a person living outside, esp. north of, the Roman Empire.
c. a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization.
5. (among Italians during the Renaissance) a person of non-Italian origin.
–adjective
6. uncivilized; crude; savage.
7. foreign; alien.
Origin:
1540–50; < L barbari(a) barbarous country (see barbarous, -ia ) + -an

Related forms:
bar⋅bar⋅i⋅an⋅ism, noun

Synonyms:
3. alien. 6. rude, primitive, wild, rough, barbaric, coarse, ignorant, uncultivated. Barbarian, barbaric, barbarous pertain to uncivilized people. Barbarian is the general word for anything uncivilized: a barbarian tribe. Barbaric has both unfavorable and mildly favorable connotations, implying crudeness of taste or practice, or conveying an idea of rude magnificence and splendor: barbaric noise. Barbarous emphasizes the inhumanity and cruelty of barbarian life: barbarous customs.

Antonyms:
6. cultivated, civilized.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To barbarian
bar·bar·i·an   (bär-bâr'ē-ən)   
n.  

  1. A member of a people considered by those of another nation or group to have a primitive civilization.

  2. A fierce, brutal, or cruel person.

  3. An insensitive, uncultured person; a boor. See Synonyms at boor.


[French barbarien, from barbare, barbarous, from Latin barbarus; see barbarous.]
bar·bar'i·an adj., bar·bar'i·an·ism n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

barbarian 
1338, from M.L. barbarinus, from L. barbaria "foreign country," from Gk. barbaros "foreign, strange, ignorant," from PIE base *barbar- echoic of unintelligible speech of foreigners (cf. Skt. barbara- "stammering," also "non-Aryan"). Barbaric is first recorded 1490, from O.Fr. barbarique, from L. barbaricus "foreign, strange, outlandish." Barbarous is first attested 1526.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Barbarian

a Greek word used in the New Testament (Rom. 1:14) to denote one of another nation. In Col. 3:11, the word more definitely designates those nations of the Roman empire that did not speak Greek. In 1 Cor. 14:11, it simply refers to one speaking a different language. The inhabitants of Malta are so called (Acts 28:1,2, 4). They were originally a Carthaginian colony. This word nowhere in Scripture bears the meaning it does in modern times.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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