barbarian
Barbarian is an insulting word for a person from an uncivilized culture or a person with no manners. Barbarians aren't known for their etiquette.
Those barbarians — back in ancient times they were always invading and pillaging and generally unleashing their fury on the more "civilized" Greeks and Romans. The barbarian hordes are long gone, but we still use this word as an insult for anyone who's acting rude, uncultured, or particularly savage. If you pick up a whole turkey leg and start gnawing like an animal at the dinner table, the other guests might call you a barbarian.
Definitions of barbarian
-
a member of an uncivilized people
-
synonyms:
savage
-
examples:
-
Odovacar
Germanic barbarian leader who ended the Western Roman Empire in 476 and became the first barbarian ruler of Italy (434-493)
-
types:
- show 4 types...
- hide 4 types...
-
anthropophagite, anthropophagus, cannibal, man-eater
a person who eats human flesh
-
head-shrinker, headhunter
a savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies
-
hunter-gatherer
a member of a hunting and gathering society
-
Vandal
a member of the Germanic people who overran Gaul and Spain and North Africa and sacked Rome in 455
-
type of:
-
primitive, primitive person
a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization
-
Odovacar
-
a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement
-
type of:
-
disagreeable person, unpleasant person
a person who is not pleasant or agreeable
-
disagreeable person, unpleasant person
-
without civilizing influences“barbarian invaders”
-
synonyms:
barbaric, savage, uncivilised, uncivilized, wild
-
noncivilised, noncivilized
not having a high state of culture and social development
-
noncivilised, noncivilized
Word Family
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Look up barbarian for the last time
Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the words you need to know.
