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
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
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
-
Inside, the Touring XT/TDL feels far more upscale than many buyers may expect from Subaru’s historically utilitarian image.—
Tim Jackson,
Denver Post,
29 May 2026
-
In addition to being undersized, these utilitarian mats often skimp on style in favor of absorbency.—
Marisa Suzanne Martin,
The Spruce,
28 May 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
-
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
Adjective
-
Perhaps that just compels Presti to remain more pragmatic and bolster positional rotation needs instead of attempting a huge swing.—
Mark Medina,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2026
-
Travel + Leisure recently spoke to two former flight attendants about their preflight routines and practices, and the answers ranged from pragmatic to surprisingly insightful.—
Jill Robbins,
Travel + Leisure,
28 May 2026
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
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
Adjective
-
Kids can enjoy welcome milk and cookies, along with a variety of in-room amenities, such as toys and board games, kid-sized robes and slippers, and practical items like cribs, high chairs, bottle warmers, and diapers.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
-
Josh, who wants to be an investigative journalist, is an idealist in a PBS T-shirt (and with a PBS tote bag) who gets by on family money and is incapable of taking care of himself in any practical way.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Philistine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistine. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
