barbarous

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
16
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹəs/

Definition of barbarous

4 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. Not classical or pure.
    “He, that would write exactly, muſt avoid a Barbarous Pronunciation, and conſider for facility, or thorow miſtake, many words are not ſounded after the beſt dialect. Such as […] Wun, one.”
    “The original Turkish tongue was somewhat barbarous, but extremely forcible and concise when spoken.”
See all 4 definitions

adj

  1. Not classical or pure.
    “He, that would write exactly, muſt avoid a Barbarous Pronunciation, and conſider for facility, or thorow miſtake, many words are not ſounded after the beſt dialect. Such as […] Wun, one.”
    “The original Turkish tongue was somewhat barbarous, but extremely forcible and concise when spoken.”
  2. Uncivilized, uncultured.
    “[T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe.”
    “It is the remark of an ingenious writer, should a barbarous Indian, who had never seen a palace or a ship, view their separate and disjointed parts, and observe the pillars, doors, windows, cornices and turrets of the one, or the prow and stern, the ribs and masts, the ropes and shrouds, the sails and tackle of the other, he would be able to form but a very lame and dark idea of either of those excellent and useful inventions.”
    “I felt vaguely he was a sneak, and remained quite unmollified by advances on his side, which, in a boy's barbarous fashion, unless it suited me to be magnanimous, I haughtily ignored.”
  3. Mercilessly or impudently violent or cruel, savage.
    “Direct my weapon to his barbarous heart, / That thus oppoſeth him againſt the Gods, / And ſcornes the Powers that gouerne Perſea.”
  4. Like a barbarian, especially in sound; noisy, dissonant.
    “I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs / By the known rules of antient libertie, / When strait a barbarous noise environs me / Of Owles and Cuckoes, Asses, Apes and Doggs”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Latin barbarus (“foreigner, savage”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, strange”).

Find your best play with barbarous

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes barbarous, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.