barbarous

English

Alternative forms

• (obsolete) barbarouse

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹəs/

Adjective

barbarous (comparative more barbarous, superlative most barbarous)

1. (said of language) Not classical or pure.
   • 1880, Charles Wells, “Introduction to the second edition”, in James Redhouse, Redhouse's Turkish Dictionary, page vii:

     The original Turkish tongue was somewhat barbarous, but extremely forcible and concise when spoken.

2. Uncivilized, uncultured.
   • 1801, Isaac Watts, The improvement of the mind, or A supplement to the art of logic:

     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.

   • 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt:

     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.

3. Mercilessly or impudently violent or cruel, savage.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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:

     Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart,
     That thus oppoſeth him againſt the Gods,
     And ſcornes the Powers that gouerne Perſea.

4. Like a barbarian, especially in sound; noisy, dissonant.
   • 1673, John Milton, I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs:

     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

Derived terms

• barbarously
• barbarousness

Related terms

• barbarian
• barbaric

Translations