banausic
Syllables: ba·naus·ic/bəˈnɔːsɪk/US/bəˈnɔzɪk/
banausic adjective: of or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical.
Adjective
banausic (comparative more banausic, superlative most banausic)
- Of or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical.
- The true "Gentleman," they [the ruling classes] assert, will far more easily acquire the technical knowledge necessary for an officer, a judge, or for the administration of some high post, than one who has been brought up in some banausic speciality, will be able to gain the general educational...1860 November 24, “W.” [pseudonym], “Foreign Correspondence”, in The Athenæum: Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, number 1726, London: […] James Holmes, […]...
- It was the Greeks who taught us the dignity of leisure; it is from them that we inherit the perception that the highest life is the life of contemplation. But this respect for leisure, with the Greeks, was accompanied by a contempt for the banausic occupations.1951 September 13, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Virgil and the Christian World”, in The Listener, volume 46, London: British Broadcasting Corporation, →OCLC, page 412, column 2; republished in On...
- Uncultured, unrefined, utilitarian.
- After 1812, and when the worst portion of the Tories got enthroned in the supremacy, when the Banausic principle (we must coin a word from the most expressive of languages to express all its intense vulgarity) began to obtain, […] Lord Grey [Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey] did what might have been...1845 August, “Art. VII.—Etudes sur les Orateurs. Par Timon. Bruxelles. 1834.”, in The Oxford and Cambridge Review, volume I, London: William Pickering; Oxford: J. Vincent; Cambridge: J. T. Walters...
- [H]ow graceful and accurate a portrait of Alexandria he manages to convey; Alexandria and its women. […] One could not expect more from an intruder of gifts who almost by mistake pierced the hard banausic shell of Alexandria and discovered himself.1957, Lawrence Durrell, “Part I”, in Justine, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co., published May 1960, →OCLC, page 76
- Synonyms:
- mundane
Examples of banausic in a sentence
- [T]he indifference or contempt which the ruling minorities felt towards "banausic" pursuits or technological gadgetry – an attitude rooted in the literary and oratorical bias of their education.1979, John Bowle, A History of Europe: A Cultural and Political Survey, London: Secker and Warburg; Heinemann, →ISBN, page 37:
- Love, as the instrument of creative agencies and cosmic perpetuity, is no banausic conception.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page i:
- But how could man respect himself when he was always being brought down to earth by the most banausic things?2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN; republished London: Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN, page 456:
Synonyms of banausic
Forms of banausic
| comparative | more banausic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most banausic |
Origin of banausic
From Ancient Greek βαναυσικός (banausikós, “of or for mechanics”), from βάναυσος (bánausos, “mechanical; ironsmith”) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix forming relational adjectives). βάναυσος is derived from βαύνος (baúnos, “forge, furnace”), a Pre-Greek word of unknown origin.
Questions about banausic
- What does banausic mean?
- Banausic means of or pertaining to technical matters; mechanical.
- How do you use banausic in a sentence?
- [T]he indifference or contempt which the ruling minorities felt towards "banausic" pursuits or technological gadgetry – an attitude rooted in the literary and oratorical bias of their education.
- What part of speech is banausic?
- Banausic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce banausic?
- Banausic is pronounced /bəˈnɔːsɪk/ (UK).
Words near banausic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: banausic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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