as in materialist
a person who is chiefly interested in material comfort and is hostile or indifferent to art and culture
the town's philistines who think that spending on the arts is a waste of taxpayers' money
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in utilitarian
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in materialistic
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
3
as in uncultured
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of philistine
Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
The Childhood of a Leader (titled after a Sartre short story), their style indicated a possible philistine route.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2025
In pre-Revolutionary Russia some critics derided his compositions as bourgeois work aimed at philistine audiences.
—Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2022
There was no reason — other than bankrupt ideology and blinkered philistine pig-ignorance — not to go hog-wild with stimulus, say, $2 trillion for starters.
—Ryan Cooper, The Week, 10 Jan. 2022
Adjective
But philistine incomprehension never deterred Stein.
—Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
The Childhood of a Leader (titled after a Sartre short story), their style indicated a possible philistine route.
—Armond White, National Review, 3 Jan. 2025
In pre-Revolutionary Russia some critics derided his compositions as bourgeois work aimed at philistine audiences.
—Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2022
There was no reason — other than bankrupt ideology and blinkered philistine pig-ignorance — not to go hog-wild with stimulus, say, $2 trillion for starters.
—Ryan Cooper, The Week, 10 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for philistine
Adjective
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The overall interior aesthetic feels more austere than luxurious, bordering on utilitarian.—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Koolhaas sang the joys of juxtapositions in his 1978 book Delirious New York, and here his firm has cultivated a distinctively New York–y jangle of forms in which the utilitarian becomes the theatrical.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
19 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The pursuit of happiness, both materialistic and spiritual, is a recurring theme in my feature films.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
19 Jan. 2026
-
More involved in things that aren’t materialistic.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
The brand has come to signify rugged, often uncultured New York grit, its actual working-class relevance and celebration in seminal rap lyrics feeding internet snarkers’ stereotypes of city dwellers.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
21 Jan. 2026
-
Just the opposite: The slipup shows how culture pervades even my uncultured moments.—
Harmon Siegel,
Artforum,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Executives at NBCUniversal frame Bravo as a brand that represents a particular type of lowbrow-highbrow reality TV, and that even if the channel vanished, the brand could live on.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Jan. 2026
-
That balance of high- and lowbrow is absent in The Abandons.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The materiality, in combination with the pragmatic storage solutions, recalls the logic of boat design, where every inch is studied and nothing is left to chance.—
Ludovica Stevan,
Architectural Digest,
22 Mar. 2026
-
The pragmatic challenge of Bini’s live cinema content, for now, is that time and delivery limit how many people can actually experience it.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Henwick’s Ruth, opposite Margaret Qualley’s avaricious Julia, represent a fork in the road for Becket.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Harlan has an avaricious family, each member of which has something to gain from his death.—
Anna Russell,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
That suits the artless, unfiltered way Yo describes her life, spending a fair amount of time recollecting her own childhood.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Feb. 2026
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By contrast, Erika is a vamp, a woman whose wardrobe encompasses high fashion and BDSM — maybe this is what makes Erika choose him to be her assistant, just as her icy, dominatrix cool appeals to the refreshingly artless Elliot.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Headway Premium offers a more practical way to keep learning, with lifetime access now available for $51 as part of a sitewide sale with promo code MARCH15.—
StackCommerce Team,
PC Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
-
The pattern-aware Moon activates your 10th House of Career, supporting practical steps that showcase your skills and leadership in all settings.—
Tarot.com,
Chicago Tribune,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Philistine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistine. Accessed 25 Mar. 2026.
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