barbarism
barbarism Lexical Profile
barbarism Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Extreme cruelty, brutality, or savagery in human behavior.
"Historians documented the widespread barbarism that occurred during the prolonged siege."
An uncivilized, uncultured, or primitive state or condition lacking social and cultural refinement.
"The philosopher argued that without laws and education, society would quickly descend into barbarism."
A word, phrase, or expression that is considered nonstandard, improperly formed, or offensive to conventional usage and linguistic purity.
"Purists often criticized the new slang term as a linguistic barbarism that had no place in formal writing."
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French barbarisme, via Latin from Ancient Greek barbarismos ('speaking like a foreigner'), derived from barbaros ('foreign, non-Greek'), an echoic word imitating the unintelligible speech of foreigners as 'bar-bar'.