barbarism
nounUK /ˈbɑː(ɹ)bəɹɪz(ə)m/ · US /ˈbɑɹbəˈɹɪzm̩/
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.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 42–43:
- War is at best barbarism... Its glory is all moonshine.1879, William Tecumseh Sherman, Address to the Michigan Military Academy:
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.2002, Hyman, Bad Grammar in Context, New England Classical Journal, 29, p. 94-101
- Derived terms
- semibarbarism