as in savage
not civilized
people who were regarded as barbarian by the ancient Romans
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in primitive
an uncivilized person
the invading Germanic tribes were viewed as barbarians by the citizens of ancient Rome
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of barbarian
Literary Hub,
25 June 2026
For the design of the barbarian figure, Sweet reached out to Mark Taylor, an artist and designer at Mattel.
—
Sanat Pai Raikarall,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
4 May 2026
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
13 May 2026
In the reboot, Russell Crowe plays Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, the warrior first played by Connery, and Dave Bautista is The Kurgan, Brown’s brutal barbarian from the first movie.
—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barbarian
Adjective
Language would have been a part of the divide between Roman and barbarian.
—
Literary Hub,
25 June 2026
For the design of the barbarian figure, Sweet reached out to Mark Taylor, an artist and designer at Mattel.
—
Sanat Pai Raikarall,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
4 May 2026
Noun
Created by Mike Moreci and Nathan Gooden and edited by Adrian Wassel, Barbaric centers on a ruthless and crass barbarian who is cursed to only use his violence for good, which sends him, his talking axe and a young witch, on a road of self-discovery, redemption and revenge.
—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
13 May 2026
In the reboot, Russell Crowe plays Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, the warrior first played by Connery, and Dave Bautista is The Kurgan, Brown’s brutal barbarian from the first movie.
—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barbarian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for barbarian
Adjective
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The Yellow Death has disfigured the population, and soldiers in white-and-red tunics serve the savage Duke of Tviot.
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Josefowicz, in her decathlon of a performance, brought Ligeti’s savage discontinuities to the surface.
Noun
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Each is a move to control more of the layer between the customer and the underlying financial primitive, whether that primitive is a card rail, a deposit account, or a stablecoin reserve.
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What follows this admission is a piercing dissection not of the art itself, but of frameworks of looking at Black art and life that go beyond racist tropes disguised as appeals to the primitive, the spontaneous, the corporeal.
Adjective
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Due Amici brings Brooklyn roots and authenticity, right down to the counter service that’s not rude but not exactly warm.
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It’s widely considered rude and annoying when people cluster by the train doors if there are more people on the platform attempting to get on.
Adjective
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The Shawano-Menominee Counties Health Department advised anyone bitten or scratched by a bat or other wild animal to promptly clean the wound with soap and water, then contact a physician or go to the emergency room.
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And, speaking of wild, each team had a Max Muncy playing third base and batting seventh.
Adjective
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But because of his radical and violent fight for freedom, Dessalines’ enemies often described him as ferocious and barbaric, both during his lifetime and in the centuries after his death.
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The vitality of her language, its frolicsome dance with personification, communicates its own resistance in the face of an indifferent world, exploited by imperialist greed and barbaric, militant might.
Adjective
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The chaos in Ithaca may be political and ethical—a violation of custom—but stretches of the poem are barbarous and wild, beyond civilized life altogether.
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Seeking to eliminate Berber forces in the barren mountains of northern Morocco, seven soldiers obediently follow their fanatical sergeant (Víctor Clavijo) into barbarous depths of depravity.
Adjective
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But the show repeatedly undercuts that point of view by halfway reinforcing the age-old American assumption that crime is born of poor individual choices among an uncivilized populace, not of poverty, desperation, and preservation, both self and communal.
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Colonial technology came for his kingdom, regardless, and the forces of modernity ended up demonizing those who didn’t embrace technology as backward and uncivilized.
Cite this Entry
“Barbarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/barbarian. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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