Skip to content

barbarism

noun

  1. linguistic deviation
L316745 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹɪz(ə)m/ / /ˈbɑɹbəˈɹɪzm̩/

noun

  1. A barbaric act.

    These barbarisms can not be allowed to continue; they must be crushed or civilization will collapse.

  2. The condition of existing barbarically.

    Like dancing, it is a remnant of ancient barbarism—fit for the days of the Chaldeans or the Babylonians, when people were only amused through their eyes—the sole entertainment of which savage nations are susceptible.

    War is at best barbarism... Its glory is all moonshine.

  3. A word hybridizing Ancient Greek and Latin or other heterogeneous roots.
  4. An error in language use within a single word, such as a mispronunciation.

    In the jargon of the ancient grammarian, penacilin would be a barbarism.

barbarism — meaning, definition (noun) · Vinony