philistine
noun
[ ˈfɪlɪstʌɪn ]
• a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.
• "I am a complete philistine when it comes to paintings"
Similar:
lowbrow,
anti-intellectual,
materialist,
bourgeois,
boor,
ignoramus,
lout,
oaf,
barbarian,
primitive,
savage,
brute,
yahoo,
vulgarian,
philistine
adjective
• hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.
• "there were displays to inspire even the most philistine of visitors"
Similar:
crass,
tasteless,
uncultured,
uncultivated,
uneducated,
untutored,
unenlightened,
unread,
commercial,
materialist,
bourgeois,
unsophisticated,
unrefined,
boorish,
barbarian,
barbarous,
barbaric,
primitive,
savage,
brutish,
loutish,
oafish,
uncivilized,
uncouth,
vulgar,
coarse,
rough,
Origin:
early 19th century: from Philistine, originally with reference to a confrontation between university students and townspeople in Jena, Germany, in the late 17th century; a sermon on the conflict quoted ‘the Philistines are upon you’ (Judges 16), which led to an association between the townspeople and those hostile to culture.
Philistine
noun
• a member of a non-Semitic people of ancient southern Palestine, who came into conflict with the Israelites during the 12th and 11th centuries BC.
Origin:
Old English: from late Latin Philistinus from Greek Philistinos, from Hebrew pĕlištī : compare with Palestine. See also philistine.
