barbarian Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a member of an uncivilized people
    savage.
  2. noun a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement
    Goth; boor; tyke; peasant; churl; tike.
  3. adjective satellite without civilizing influences
    savage; barbaric; uncivilized; uncivilised; wild.
    • barbarian invaders
    • barbaric practices
    • a savage people
    • fighting is crude and uncivilized especially if the weapons are efficient"-Margaret Meade
    • wild tribes

WordNet

Bar*ba"ri*an noun
Etymology
See Barbarous.
Definitions
  1. A foreigner. Historical
    Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. Cor. xiv. 11.
  2. A man in a rule, savage, or uncivilized state.
  3. A person destitute of culture. M. Arnold.
  4. A cruel, savage, brutal man; one destitute of pity or humanity. "Thou fell barbarian." Philips.
Bar*ba"ri*an adjective
Definitions
  1. Of, or pertaining to, or resembling, barbarians; rude; uncivilized; barbarous; as, barbarian governments or nations.

Webster 1913