In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
BARBAROUS
barbarous
(adjective) primitive in customs and culture
barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious
(adjective) (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; “a barbarous crime”; “brutal beatings”; “cruel tortures”; “Stalin’s roughshod treatment of the kulaks”; “a savage slap”; “vicious kicks”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Adjective
barbarous (comparative more barbarous, superlative most barbarous)
(said of language) Not classical or pure.
uncivilized, uncultured
Like a barbarian, especially in sound; noisy, dissonant.
Source: Wiktionary
Bar"ba*rous, a. Etym: [L. barbarus, Gr. , strange, foreign; later, slavish, rude, ignorant; akin to L. balbus stammering, Skr. barbara stammering, outlandish. Cf. Brave, a.]
1. Being in the state of a barbarian; uncivilized; rude; peopled with barbarians; as, a barbarous people; a barbarous country.
2. Foreign; adapted to a barbaric taste.[Obs.] Barbarous gold. Dryden.
3. Cruel; ferocious; inhuman; merciless. By their barbarous usage he died within a few days, to the grief of all that knew him. Clarendon.
4. Contrary to the pure idioms of a language. A barbarous expression G. Campbell.
Syn.
– Uncivilized; unlettered; uncultivated; untutored; ignorant; merciless; brutal. See Ferocious.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
9 May 2024
CONSECRATION
(noun) (religion) sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God; “the Cardinal attended the consecration of the church”
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