philistine 1 of 2

noun

Definition of philistinenext
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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

philistine

2 of 2

adjective

1
as in utilitarian

Related Words

Dissimilar Words
2
as in materialistic

Related Words

Dissimilar Words
3
as in uncultured

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of philistine
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
  1. lowbrow
  2. utilitarian
  3. materialistic
  4. uncultured
  5. capitalist
  6. pragmatic
  7. avaricious
  8. artless
Noun
  • Embracing a visual vocabulary of the lowbrow and the rudimentary is a tried-and-true method of rebelling against a culture that feels vapid or corporatized.
    — Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 6 May 2026
  • 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
Definition of lowbrow
Adjective
  • In This Article Fireclay sinks have been a kitchen staple for centuries, with their iconic, usually white, gleaming glaze that turns an otherwise utilitarian fixture into a striking visual highlight.
    — Blythe Copeland, Martha Stewart, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Specs AccordionItemContainerButton Upsides AccordionItemContainerButton Downsides AccordionItemContainerButton Storage baskets can get typecast as laundry hampers, but their usage is much more utilitarian.
    — Lauren Arzbaecher, Architectural Digest, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of utilitarian
Adjective
  • Tuesday Weld played Thalia Menninger, Dobie’s beautiful, materialistic first love.
    — Sophie Clausen, PEOPLE, 6 Aug. 2026
  • New, fashionable clothing, it was implied, was materialistic and ungodly.
    — Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026
Definition of materialistic
Adjective
  • The problem is that this group is mostly comprised of uncultured idiots, so Shai and Georgia are the only people who know what Rocky Horror is.
    — Tom Smyth, Vulture, 16 July 2026
  • In certain circles, identifying with the city is shorthand for being uncultured and self-obsessed, even soulless.
    — Ella Berman August 7, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2025
Definition of uncultured
Noun
  • Tulloch could command a high salary at another lab, or raise billions from venture capitalists for a startup of his own, like OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever or Google’s Jeff Dean did.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 9 Sep. 2026
  • The cases of Tesla and Solyndra highlight how, by not recognizing its role as a public venture capitalist, the state often ends up socializing risks while privatizing rewards.
    — Mariana Mazzucato, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of capitalist
Adjective
  • The former are dreamy, romantic; the latter, hard-nosed, pragmatic.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Fischer-Rosenthal takes a pragmatic view on whether set-jetting will permanently ruin these enclaves, pointing out that ultra-luxury pricing acts as a natural barrier to entry.
    — Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of pragmatic
Adjective
  • Played by a Colman Domingo who is done up to look the most wax figurine of them all in a shellacking of makeup, prosthetics, and colored contacts, Joe is always either giving an avaricious open-mouthed leer or a cold-eyed glare.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Apr. 2026
  • There’s a quasi-heist theme to The Christophers, which revolves around an acclaimed artist (McKellen), who has long since stopped making new work, and his avaricious children (Gunning and Corden) who try to enlist Coel to complete some of their dad’s unfinished paintings.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of avaricious
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
  • 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
Definition of artless

Browse Nearby Words

philippics
philistine
philistines
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Philistine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistine. Accessed 11 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of patina

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All