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barbarous - 3 dictionary results

bar⋅ba⋅rous

  [bahr-ber-uhs]
Use barbarous in a Sentence
–adjective
1. uncivilized; wild; savage; crude.
2. savagely cruel or harsh: The prisoners of war were given barbarous treatment.
3. full of harsh sounds; noisy; discordant: an evening of wild and barbarous music.
4. not conforming to classical standards or accepted usage, as language.
5. foreign; alien.
6. (among ancient Greeks) designating a person or thing of non-Greek origin.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME < L barbarus < Gk bárbaros non-Greek, foreign, barbarian; akin to Skt barbara stammering, non-Aryan; see -ous

Related forms:
bar⋅ba⋅rous⋅ly, adverb
bar⋅ba⋅rous⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. See barbarian. 2. ferocious, inhuman, brutal.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bar·ba·rous   (bär'bər-əs)   
adj.  
  1. Primitive in culture and customs; uncivilized.
  2. Lacking refinement or culture; coarse.
  3. Characterized by savagery; very cruel. See Synonyms at cruel.
  4. Marked by the use or occurrence of barbarisms in spoken or written language.

[From Latin barbarus, from Greek barbaros, non-Greek, foreign; see barbarism.]
bar'ba·rous·ly adv., bar'ba·rous·ness 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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Barbarous

Bar"ba*rous\, a. [L. barbarus, Gr. ?, strange, foreign; later, slavish, rude, ignorant; akin to L. balbus stammering, Skr. barbara stammering, outlandish. Cf. Brave, a.]

1. Being in the state of a barbarian; uncivilized; rude; peopled with barbarians; as, a barbarous people; a barbarous country.

2. Foreign; adapted to a barbaric taste. [Obs.]

Barbarous gold. --Dryden.

3. Cruel; ferocious; inhuman; merciless.

By their barbarous usage he died within a few days, to the grief of all that knew him. --Clarendon.

4. Contrary to the pure idioms of a language.

A barbarous expression --G. Campbell.

Syn: Uncivilized; unlettered; uncultivated; untutored; ignorant; merciless; brutal. See Ferocious.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : barbarous
Spanish: bárbaro,
German: barbarisch,
Japanese: 野蛮な
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