— barbarianism , n.
/bahr bair"ee euhn/ , n.
1. a person in a savage, primitive state; uncivilized person.
2. a person without culture, refinement, or education; philistine.
3. (loosely) a foreigner.
4. (in ancient and medieval periods)
a. a non-Greek.
b. a person living outside, esp. north of, the Roman Empire.
c. a person not living in a Christian country or within a Christian civilization.
5. (among Italians during the Renaissance) a person of non-Italian origin.
adj.
6. uncivilized; crude; savage.
7. foreign; alien.
[ 1540-50; barbari ( a ) barbarous country (see BARBAROUS, -IA) + -AN ]
Syn. 3. alien. 6. rude, primitive, wild, rough, barbaric, coarse, ignorant, uncultivated. BARBARIAN, BARBARIC, BARBAROUS pertain to uncivilized people. BARBARIAN is the general word for anything uncivilized: a barbarian tribe. BARBARIC has both unfavorable and mildly favorable connotations, implying crudeness of taste or practice, or conveying an idea of rude magnificence and splendor: barbaric noise. BARBAROUS emphasizes the inhumanity and cruelty of barbarian life: barbarous customs.
Ant. 6. cultivated, civilized.