Synonyms of philistine

philistine 1 of 2

noun

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

• materialist
• lowbrow
• bastard
• capitalist
• clown
• rat
• jerk
• Babbitt
• plutocrat
• boor
• creep
• cretin
• joker
• lout
• cad
• heel
• scumbag
• scum
• bounder
• louse
• boob
• rotter
• cur
• dirtbag
• fink
• churl
• chuff
• crud
• rat fink
• crumb

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• highbrow
• intellectual
• thinker
• middlebrow
• sage
• brain
• genius

philistine

2 of 2

adjective

1

as in utilitarian

Synonyms & Similar Words

• utilitarian
• pragmatic
• pragmatical
• practical
• hardheaded
• matter-of-fact
• realistic
• rational
• earthy
• sound
• logical
• cynical
• unromantic
• down-to-earth
• reasonable
• sane
• sensible
• misanthropic
• commonsensical
• unsentimental
• idealless
• grounded
• bottom-line
• levelheaded
• pessimistic
• sober
• disillusioned
• no-nonsense
• skeptical
• tough-minded
• sobersided
• hard-edged
• hard-boiled
• suspicious
• mistrustful
• distrustful
• hard

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• idealistic
• impractical
• utopian
• unrealistic
• visionary
• sentimental
• imaginative
• blue-sky
• romantic
• fanciful
• fantastical
• fantastic
• optimistic
• cheerful
• unreasonable
• irrational
• theoretical
• illogical
• insane
• trusting
• theoretic
• rose-colored
• unsuspicious
• trustful
• half-baked

2

as in materialistic

Synonyms & Similar Words

• materialistic
• avaricious
• acquisitive
• miserly
• mercenary
• eager
• avid
• egotistical
• covetous
• greedy
• desirous
• rapacious
• egoistical
• moneygrubbing
• grasping
• commercialistic
• superficial
• gluttonous
• ravenous
• egocentric
• insatiable
• lickerish
• surface
• grabby
• shallow
• coveting
• voracious
• itchy
• unquenchable
• egotistic
• egoistic
• devouring
• malcontent
• discontented
• self-centered
• unsatisfied
• gobbling
• discontent
• skin-deep
• self-seeking

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• liberal
• generous
• charitable
• handsome
• altruistic
• magnanimous
• munificent
• unselfish
• selfless
• unsparing
• bountiful
• controlled
• moderate
• bounteous
• nonmaterialistic
• restrained
• content
• temperate
• satisfied
• openhearted
• openhanded
• sated
• freehanded
• greathearted

3

as in uncultured

Synonyms & Similar Words

• uncultured
• lowbrow
• artless
• semiliterate
• naïve
• ignorant
• unknowledgeable
• naive
• uneducated
• uncultivated
• benighted
• callow
• untutored
• illiterate
• unsophisticated
• inexperienced
• functionally illiterate
• innumerate
• unschooled
• unlettered
• nonliterate
• green
• untaught
• unlearned
• uninstructed
• unread
• imbecile
• imbecilic
• innocent
• unskilled
• idiotic
• untrained
• moronic
• witless
• rude
• stupid
• dumb
• brainless
• dark
• foolish
• simple
• analphabetic
• silly
• senseless
• raw
• idiotical

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• literate
• knowledgeable
• educated
• intelligent
• brilliant
• expert
• smart
• intellectual
• experienced
• lettered
• trained
• scholarly
• well-informed
• erudite
• schooled
• well-read
• cultured
• learned
• aware
• sophisticated
• familiar
• highbrow
• cultivated
• polymathic
• acquainted
• polymath
• polyhistoric

Examples of philistine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

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