philistine

- 4 dictionary results

–noun

(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.

(initial capital letter

) a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia.

–adjective

(sometimes initial capital letter

) lacking in or hostile to culture.

smugly commonplace or conventional.

(initial capital letter

) of or belonging to the ancient Philistines.

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Origin:
1350–1400; ME < LL Philistīnī (pl.) < LGk Philistînoi < Heb pəlishtīm

—Related forms

phil·is·tin·ism

[fil-uh-stee-niz-uh

m, -stahy-, fi-lis-tuh-niz-uh

m, -tee-]

, noun

—Synonyms
1. Babbitt, vulgarian. 3. lowbrow.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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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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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.

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.

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