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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With Elizabeth, Princess Diana, and Kate wearing the brand in different decades, Barbour has proven cross-generational appeal with their utilitarian countrywear.—
Bailey Bujnosek,
InStyle,
10 Apr. 2026
-
Behind iconic brands such as Diesel, Reply, Gap 1969, AG and Goldsign, Goldschmied leaves behind a legacy that transformed jeans from utilitarian workwear into a cornerstone of high fashion.—
SJ STAFF,
Footwear News,
5 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This sparks all kinds of adverse reaction, mainly from McCarthy’s snotty pals and girlfriends, a tribe so fiercely materialistic and shallow as to make current Less Than Zero-types seem well rounded by comparison.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The pursuit of happiness, both materialistic and spiritual, is a recurring theme in my feature films.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
19 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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Her pragmatic approach entails forgoing anything that’s too heavy.—
Yelena Moroz Alpert,
Architectural Digest,
16 Apr. 2026
-
Queen Elizabeth loved Kelly’s pragmatic bluntness and viewed her as an incredibly loyal friend.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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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
-
Henwick’s Ruth, opposite Margaret Qualley’s avaricious Julia, represent a fork in the road for Becket.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Feb. 2026
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
-
The dimness of the shuttle gallery also assists in the immersive fantasy, both as an artistic choice and a practical one due to the shuttle’s sensitivity to light.—
Malia Mendez,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Apr. 2026
-
The organization says death doulas offer psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and practical care.—
Francie Ebert,
NBC news,
13 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Philistine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistine. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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