barbarism
Definitions
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WordNet 3.6
- n barbarism a brutal barbarous savage act
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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- Barbarism A barbarous, cruel, or brutal action; an outrage. "A heinous barbarism . . . against the honor of marriage."
- Barbarism An offense against purity of style or language; any form of speech contrary to the pure idioms of a particular language. See Solecism. "The Greeks were the first that branded a foreign term in any of their writers with the odious name of barbarism ."
- Barbarism An uncivilized state or condition; rudeness of manners; ignorance of arts, learning, and literature; barbarousness.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n barbarism An offense against purity of style or language; originally, the mixing of foreign words and phrases in Latin or Greek; hence, the use of words or forms not made according to the accepted usages of a language: limited by some modern writers on rhetoric to an offense against the accepted rules of derivation or inflection, as hisn or hern for his or her, gooses for geese, goodest for best, pled for pleaded, proven for proved.
- n barbarism A word or form so used; an expression not made in accordance with the proper usages of a language.
- n barbarism An uncivilized state or condition; want of civilization; rudeness of life resulting from ignorance or want of culture.
- n barbarism An act of barbarity; an outrage.
- n barbarism Synonyms Barbarism, Solecism, etc. See impropriety.
- n barbarism In anthropology, the conditions of barbarian society. See barbarian, a., 5.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- ns Barbarism savage life: rudeness of manners: an incorrect form of speech
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Quotations
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“America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.” -
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.” -
“Civilization is the lamb's skin in which barbarism masquerades.” -
“The ultimate tendency of civilization is towards barbarism.” -
“The manner of their living is very barbarous, because they do not eat at fixed times, but as often as they please.”
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“Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. barbarismus, Gr. barbarismo`s; cf. F. barbarisme,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L.—Gr. barbaros, foreign, lit. stammering, from the unfamiliar sound of foreign tongues.
Usage
In literature:
To me it seems the worst barbarity.
"The Works of Lord Byron" by Lord Byron
I have still a naughty little spirit of experiment in me which defiles the barbarities of your climate.
"The History of Sir Richard Calmady" by Lucas Malet
This principle is so widely recognized that it is seen in an endless variety of phases, even among barbarous and half-civilized races.
"The Arena" by Various
Oh the most inhuman, barbarous hackney-coach!
"The Comedies of William Congreve Volume 1 [of 2]" by William Congreve
Banks are institutions of credit founded on usages which can be traced back to barbarism.
"Folkways" by William Graham Sumner
Oh, this barbarous country!
"The Cryptogram" by William Murray Graydon
Shouts of barbaric revelry echoed through the sublime solitudes.
"The Adventures of the Chevalier De La Salle and His Companions, in Their Explorations of the Prairies, Forests, Lakes, and Rivers, of the New World, and Their Interviews with the Savage Tribes, Two Hundred Years Ago" by John S. C. Abbott
Rizzio was barbarously murdered in the presence of the queen, who endeavored to protect him.
"A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon" by John Lord
Another prediction was that they would lapse into barbarism.
"The Negro and the Nation" by George S. Merriam
It had vanished in the dim past of their barbarism.
"Mizora: A Prophecy" by Mary E. Bradley
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In poetry:
Indignant sorrow swells our breast;
Before high Heaven a stern protest
We make against that barbarous Power
That conquers only to devour.
Before high Heaven a stern protest
We make against that barbarous Power
That conquers only to devour.
"Poland" by Janet Hamilton
O Chivalry! thy age was fair,
When even knaves set out to dare
Their heads for any barbarous crime,
And hate was brave, and love sublime.
When even knaves set out to dare
Their heads for any barbarous crime,
And hate was brave, and love sublime.
"Looking Backward" by Rose Hawthorne Lathrop
Barbarous people! cruel priests!
How they stood round like savage beasts!
Like lions gaping to devour,
When God had left him in their power.
How they stood round like savage beasts!
Like lions gaping to devour,
When God had left him in their power.
"Psalm 22" by Isaac Watts
There oft a restless Indian queen
(Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)
And many a barbarous form is seen
To chide the man that lingers there.
(Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)
And many a barbarous form is seen
To chide the man that lingers there.
"The Indian Burying Ground" by Philip Morin Freneau
Some beautiful barbaric thing,
Clothed in rich garments, emerald zoned,
Whom simple folk, half worshiping
And half in fear, have crowned and throned.
Clothed in rich garments, emerald zoned,
Whom simple folk, half worshiping
And half in fear, have crowned and throned.
"The Tulip (Caveat regina)" by Maurice Thompson
Though Scythia's icy cliffs he treads,
Or horrid Afric's faithless sands;
Or where the fam'd Hydaspes spreads
His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands.
Or horrid Afric's faithless sands;
Or where the fam'd Hydaspes spreads
His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands.
"Horace: Book 1, Ode 22" by Samuel Johnson
In news:
Jurors have recommended death Friday Aug 10 for Michael Barbar , the Perris man convicted last month of slaying his wife and her child after paternity tests showed Barbar was not the father of the six-year-old girl.
California should end barbaric , costly death penalty.
Just a game or barbaric behavior.
Bernard-Henri Lévy on the New Barbarism .
The attempted murder of a 14-year-old girl because she campaigned for the right of all Pakistani girls to go to school is extreme even by the Taliban's barbaric, medieval standards.
'Sailing the Barbarous Coast' at WPCA.
A surprisingly sophisticated — and entertaining — reboot of the barbaric classic.
Barbarism leads to social degeneration .
The execution was so gruesome that the Vatican condemned it as "barbaric," and the electric chair itself is now under renewed scrutiny.
Why is the United States the only Western democracy still using such a barbaric practice.
Mauritania called the killing in Mali of 16 preachers from a moderate Muslim sect a "barbaric massacre" and an "odious crime," in comments that underscore heightened tensions between the two neighboring nations.
Fans hoping to drive to the new Marlins Park, the Miami Herald warned, would face Mad Max traffic barbarity and waits for parking comparable only to Soviet breadlines.
Mauritania called the killing in Mali of 16 preachers from a moderate Muslim sect a "barbaric massacre" and an " odious crime," in comments that underscore heightened tensions between the two neighboring nations.
Ironically, in 1856 the first Republican presidential nominee, John C Fremont, ran against what he called the "twin relics of barbarism, slavery and polygamy".
Nearly every modern democracy -- except one -- has abandoned the barbaric death penalty, a relic from crude medieval times.
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