ˈbärbəˌrizəm, ˈbȧb- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French barbarisme, from Latin barbarismus, from Greek barbarismos, from barbaros foreign + -ismos -ism — more at barbarous
1.
a. : a word or expression which in form or use offends against contemporary standards of acceptability in a language especially in the derivative construction of words
b. : any idea, act, or performance that runs counter to prevailing standards of good taste or of what is intellectually or artistically sound or correct
the barbarism seen on some of the Assyrian sculpture, where inscriptions were scrawled right across the work without regard to design — Edward Clodd
the idea of … a unit of international exchange based upon an unchanging value in terms of gold is an economic barbarism — E.H.Collins
2.
a. : a barbarian or barbarous social or intellectual condition
that peculiar taint of barbarism which makes men prefer occasional disobedience to systematic liberty — H.T.Buckle
: backwardness
drew the country out of its economic barbarism and illiteracy
b.
(1) : the practice or display of barbarian acts, attitudes, or ideas especially of barbarous cruelty or brutality
the reversion to barbarism in political trials and punishments — Alfred Cobban
the barbarism with which the revolt was suppressed
(2) : a particular trait or characteristic of this condition
I had been taught that war was an outmoded barbarism — A.W.Turnbull
c. among some anthropologists : a stage of cultural development between savagery and civilization characterized by a primitive agricultural and pastoral economy but lacking a written language