philistines

noun

plural of philistine
as in materialists
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

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for philistines
  1. clowns
  2. capitalists
  3. rats
Noun
  • Because some of them are showing up to the game looking like clowns.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The excessiveness of Ken Russell, Joe Coleman, Tasha Tudor, clowns, migraines, Priscilla Presley, and the Winchester Mystery House.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of clowns
Noun
  • Other significant players include venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman.
    — Katie McQue, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026
  • At the same time, national governments need to follow established best practices and create attractive environments for top innovators, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists.
    — Andrew McAfee, Foreign Affairs, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of capitalists
Noun
  • In the weeks after, more than 85 million pounds of rotting food being kept at the cold storage facility began to rot, leaving a putrid stench lingering over the area that led to infestations of rats, flies and other rodents.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • For this argument Thomasine was jailed—stuffed into a damp, stinking, deadly stone cell crawling with rats and lice—to force her to change her beliefs.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of rats
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Philistines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistines. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

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