philistine
Syllables: phi·list·ine/ˈfɪlɪstaɪn//ˈfɪlɪˌstaɪn/
philistine noun: a person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture, and who has pedestrian tastes.
Noun (1)
philistine (plural philistines)
- A person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture, and who has pedestrian tastes.
- [W]hen he [Christoph Friedrich Nicolai] wrote against [Immanuel] Kant's philosophy, without comprehending it; and judged of poetry as he judged of Brunswick mum, by its utility, many people thought him wrong. A man of such spiritual habilitudes is now by the Germans called a Philister, Philistine...1824, Thomas Carlyle, “Goethe”, in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, edited by H[enry] D[uff] Traill, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Travels: Translated from the German of Goethe […] (The Works of...
- Not only was he [Heinrich Heine] not one of Mr. [Thomas] Carlyle's "respectable" people, he was profoundly disrespectable; and not even the merit of not being a Philistine can make up for a man's being that.1865, Matthew Arnold, “Heinrich Heine”, in Essays in Criticism, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 184–185
- Synonyms:
- heathen
Adjective (1)
philistine (comparative more philistine, superlative most philistine)
- Ignorant or uneducated; specifically, lacking appreciation for or antagonistic towards art or culture, and having pedestrian tastes.
- [Robert] Walpole, moreover, left England not only more corrupt than he found it, but crasser and more Philistine.1948 September 13, “18th Century England”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 25, number 11, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 124
- Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity. But in regard to philistine vulgarity there is no intrinsic difference between Palearctic manners and Nearctic manners.1956 December 12, Vladimir Nabokov, “On a Book Entitled Lolita”, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, page 317
- Synonyms:
- heathen, philistinic, philistinish
Noun (2) capitalized: Philistine
Philistine (plural Philistines or (archaic) Philistim)
- A non-Semitic person from ancient Philistia, a region in the southwest Levant in the Middle East.
- Then the lords of the Philiſtines gathered them together, for to offer a great ſacrifice vnto Dagon their god, and to reioyce; for they ſaid, Our god hath deliuered Samſon our enemy into our hand.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 16:23, column 1
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 15
- Synonyms:
- Philistee, Philistian, Palestine
- An opponent (of the speaker, writer, etc); an enemy, a foe.
- In very truth what could poor old Abbot Hugo do? A frail old man; and the Philistines were upon him,—that is to say, the Hebrews.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “Abbot Hugo”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk), page 44
- In German universities: a person not associated with the university; a non-academic or non-student; a townsperson.
- Synonyms:
- philister
- Alternative letter-case form of philistine (“a person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture, and who has pedestrian tastes”).
- It is Shakespearean, you Philistine!
- [W]hen he [Christoph Friedrich Nicolai] wrote against [Immanuel] Kant's philosophy, without comprehending it; and judged of poetry as he judged of Brunswick mum, by its utility, many people thought him wrong. A man of such spiritual habilitudes is now by the Germans called a Philister, Philistine...1824, Thomas Carlyle, “Goethe”, in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, edited by H[enry] D[uff] Traill, Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Travels: Translated from the German of Goethe […] (The Works of...
Adjective (2) capitalized: Philistine
Philistine (comparative more Philistine, superlative most Philistine)
- Originating from ancient Philistia; of or pertaining to the ancient Philistines.
- Synonyms:
- Philistian
- Alternative letter-case form of philistine (“ignorant or uneducated; specifically, lacking appreciation for or antagonistic towards art or culture, and having pedestrian tastes”).
- [Robert] Walpole, moreover, left England not only more corrupt than he found it, but crasser and more Philistine.1948 September 13, “18th Century England”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 25, number 11, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 124
- Visitors to the area are strongly recommended to have a look around the castle, for even the most Philistine of wild water canoeists cannot fail to be impressed by the enormous armoury, fine paintings and wonderful furnishings that seem to outclass all other museums and castles in the North East.1991, Nick Doll, Canoeist’s Guide to the North East […], Milnthorpe, Cumbria: Cicerone Press, →ISBN, page 25
philistine meaning in Thai
philistine in Thai
- person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of culture
- บ้านนอก bâan-nɔ̂ɔk, ชาวบ้าน chaao-bâan
Examples of philistine in a sentence
- If it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture, the whole world, the future as well as the present, would inevitably belong to the Philistines.1867 July, Matthew Arnold, “Culture and Its Enemies”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XVI, number 91, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […]...
- Mr. [Matthew] Arnold has no patience with the middle-class ‘Philistines’ the dullards and haters of light, who care only for what is material and practical.1880, “MATTHEW ARNOLD”, in Robert Chambers, Robert Carruthers, editors, Chambers’s Cyclopædia of English Literature […], 3rd edition...
- The boorish Philistine!" he murmured; [...]1905 July 1, F. H. Bolton, “That Poetic Johnny”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XXVII, number 1381, London: “Boy’s Own Paper” Office, […]...
- In politics this type of philistine has more than once denounced the "golden rule" as an "iridescent dream" of a lunatic.1923 May, “Pornolagny and Realism”, in The Urologic and Cutaneous Review, volume XXVII, number 5, St. Louis, Mo.: Urologic and Cutaneous...
Synonyms of philistine
- heathen
- philistinish
- Palestine
- Philister
- philistinic
- Philistee
- Philistian
Forms of philistine
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | philistines |
| alternative form | Philistine |
| plural | Philistines |
| plural (archaic) | Philistim |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more philistine |
| superlative | most philistine |
| comparative | more Philistine |
| superlative | most Philistine |
Origin of philistine
The noun is derived from Philistine, influenced by philister, Philister (“(historical) in German universities: person not associated with the university; person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture”), from German Philister (“person from ancient Philistia; (figurative, dated) person not associated with a university; (figurative) person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture”), from Late Latin Philistaeus, Philisteus (compare Philistinus and see further at Philistine) + German -er (suffix forming nouns indicating an inhabitant of a place, or a person originating from a place). The figurative senses of the German word are often said to have derived from a 1693 sermon by the ecclesiastical superintendent Georg Heinrich Götze (1667–1728) on the passage “Philister über dir, Simson!” (“The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”; Judges 16:9, 12, 14, and 20) at the funeral of a student from the University of Jena in Jena, Thuringia, Germany, who had died as the result of a town and gown dispute (that is, one between the townspeople and university students), but the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the word was already used in...
The noun is derived from Middle English Philistyne, Philisten [and other forms], from Old English Filistina (genitive plural), from Old French Philistin (modern French Philistin) and Late Latin Philistinus, from Koine Greek Φυλιστῖνοι (Phulistînoi), a variant of Φυλιστιίμ (Phulistiím), Φυλιστιείμ (Phulistieím) (compare Koine Greek Παλαιστῖνοι (Palaistînoi)), from Hebrew פְּלִשְׁתִּים (p'lishtím, plural noun), from פְּלִשְׁתִּי (p'lishtí, “Philistine”, adjective), from פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia”). An Anatolian origin should be considered, compare Hittite 𒁄𒄭𒅖 (pal-ḫi-iš /palḫis/, “wide, broad”), nominalized as lowland, plain + 𒊭𒀀𒆠𒄑𒍣 (ša-a-ki-ez-zi /šākizzi/, “seeks out”), nominalized as explorer, colonist, which would yield something like palḫis-sak or palḫis-sku. In light of the Philistines’ likely Aegean origins, several scholars have proposed Greek etymologies for the ethnonym: * Thomas Schneider proposes that it is derived from an archaic Greek term πλωϝιστοι (plōwistoi, “sailors,seafarers”) (cf. Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀫𐀹𐀵 (po-ro-wi-to /plōwistos/)). * Jan Driessen connects the Philistines with the people of the settlement of Pyla, yielding the term Πυλαϝαστοι (Pulawastoi...
Words formed from philistine
Words that rhyme with philistine
Questions about philistine
- What does philistine mean?
- Philistine means a person who is ignorant or uneducated; specifically, a person who lacks appreciation of or is antagonistic towards art or culture, and who has pedestrian tastes.
- What is philistine in Thai?
- Philistine in Thai is บ้านนอก (bâan-nɔ̂ɔk), ชาวบ้าน (chaao-bâan). See Philistine meaning in Thai.
- How do you use philistine in a sentence?
- If it were not for this purging effect wrought upon our minds by culture, the whole world, the future as well as the present, would inevitably belong to the Philistines.
- What part of speech is philistine?
- Philistine can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce philistine?
- Philistine is pronounced /ˈfɪlɪstaɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of philistine?
- The plural of philistine is philistines.
Words near philistine in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: philistine (page history and authors); Philistine (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-philistine.wav, En-us-Philistine.ogg, En-au-Philistine.ogg.
Cite this entry: “philistine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/philistine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.