barbaric

views updated May 18 2018

bar·bar·ic / bärˈbarik/ • adj. 1. savagely cruel; exceedingly brutal: he had carried out barbaric acts in the name of war.2. primitive; unsophisticated: the barbaric splendor he found in civilizations since destroyed. ∎  uncivilized and uncultured.DERIVATIVES: bar·bar·i·cal·ly adv.

barbaric

views updated May 23 2018

barbaric uncivilized XV; not Greek or Roman, foreign XIX. — F. barbarique cr L. barbaricus — Gr. barbarikós, f. bárbaros foreign, rude.
So barbarian adj. and sb. XV; see -IAN. barbarism XV; see -ISM. barbarous XV; f. L. barbarus (see -OUS).