Dictionary

barbarous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹəs/

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Latin barbarus (“foreigner, savage”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, strange”).

Meanings

1. (said of language) Not classical or pure.
   • The original Turkish tongue was somewhat barbarous, but extremely forcible and concise when spoken. 1880, Charles Wells, “Introduction to the second edition”, in James Redhouse, Redhouse's Turkish Dictionary, page vii:
   • He, that would write exactly, muſt avoid a Barbarous Pronunciation, and conſider for facility, or thorow miſtake, many words are not ſounded after the beſt dialect. Such as […] Wun, one. 1687, Chriſtopher Cooper, “Chap. XIX: Of Barbarous Speaking”, in The Engliſh Teacher, London: John Richardſon, for the Author, pages 77-78; republished Menston: Scolar Press, 1969:
2. Uncivilized, uncultured.
   • It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions. 1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC:
   • I felt vaguely he was a sneak, and remained quite unmollified by advances on his side, which, in a boy's barbarous fashion, unless it suited me to be magnanimous, I haughtily ignored. 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt:
   • [T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe. 1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called in Latin Irio”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 23, recto:
3. Mercilessly or impudently violent or cruel, savage.
   • Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart, / That thus oppoſeth him againſt the Gods, / And ſcornes the Powers that gouerne Perſea. c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:
4. Like a barbarian, especially in sound; noisy, dissonant.
   • I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs / By the known rules of antient libertie, / When strait a barbarous noise environs me / Of Owles and Cuckoes, Asses, Apes and Doggs 1673, John Milton, I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs:

Forms

Deriveds

semibarbarous · hyperbarbarous · barbarously · nonbarbarous · barbarousness · unbarbarous

Relateds

barbaric · barbarian

Synonyms

diabolic · pagan · uncivilized · wolfish · savage · heathenous · merciless · rotten · unpitying · sadistic · uncultured · Gothlike · fell · despiteful · brutal · truculent · barbaric · demonic · uncouth · truculent · bowelless · barbaric · savage · barbarious · remorseless · uncultivated · flagitious · malicious · unmerciful · cruel · uncivil · inhuman · savage · heathen · nonhumane · barbarous · unbenevolent · incessive · nasty · heathenish · brutal · diabolical · Gothic · pitiless · unpitiful · barbarian · unkind · ruthless · compassionless · savage · unbenign · inclement · spiteful · heathenly · tenebrose · ruthless · animalistic · grim · truculent · brutish · incivil · uplandish · barbarous · inhumane

Translations (1)

es bárbaro (adjective)