1
as in brutal
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
a monarch resorting to whatever barbarous means he deemed necessary to protect his throne
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barbarian
not civilized
an aunt who abhors barbarous behavior such as eating with your fingers
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of barbarous
Any slip-up or act of insubordination, no matter how small, results in immediate death from the barbarous SS members running the camp.
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Josh Weiss, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
How does Reed manage to revisit some of the world’s most barbarous acts without succumbing to despair?
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
Treating barbarous body horror as something embedded in us deeper than the mutual love of a partner, especially when it’s done without the theatrical or exploitation trappings, makes for one of the New French Extremity’s most troubling works.
—Rory Doherty, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2024
Experts told PolitiFact such narratives painting Haiti as a barbarous country are not new and are racist attempts to dehumanize Haitians.
—Jeff Cercone, Austin American-Statesman, 14 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for barbarous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for barbarous
Adjective
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Between wading or boating into choppy surf, baking in the hot sun, and getting doused in salty spray, the elements are brutal on the human body and the gear meant to withstand them.—
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Phạm Lockwood also spoke with Huan Nguyen, the sole survivor of a massacre of a South Vietnamese family in Saigon, a brutal attack allegedly orchestrated by Capt.—
Adjective
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Ashley Johnson and star/executive producer Travis Willingham tee up what's coming for their soft barbarian lady.—
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Bailey plays half-elf ranger Vex, O’Brien is her twin brother Vax, Willingham is the lovable barbarian Grog, Johnson is the holy gnome cleric Pike, Jaffe is the royal gunslinger Percy, Ray is magical half-elf druid Keyleth and Riegel is the raunchy gnome bard Scanlan.—
Adjective
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The forest had taught him that city dwellers could often be regulated by cruel and rather unpredictable codes.—
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That Maduro is a cruel dictator is clear; that Trump intends more than just his arrest (such as taking their oil) is equally clear.—
Adjective
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People at work have made rude comments pertaining to my hearing.—
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Though Jackson acknowledged that those time crunches can be stressful, being rude isn't the way to go.—
Adjective
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This league is a savage league.—
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The fifth-place finisher also reveals the inspiration for her savage jury question to Savannah.—
Adjective
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But every point matters for the Sabres, and these 2 were enough to put them in the second wild-card spot based on points percentage.—
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Those interviews can be conducted through wild-card weekend and are limited to three hours in length.—
Adjective
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Officials charged Damon Leanord of Pleasanton, Kansas, with interference with law enforcement, having a vicious dog at large and criminal desecration of a body in Linn County and abandonment of a corpse charges in Bates County, Missouri, after finding the child’s body at the bottom of a creek bed.—
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He was shocked in 2013 when he was struck by vicious bouts of vomiting.—
Adjective
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Buffington had been working as an after-school instructor for classes in woodworking, primitive skills and kite-making through the Princeton Recreation Department.—
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These regular observations will gradually take in data and aim to provide pivotal information about the strengths, compositions, and histories of these primitive cosmic bodies.—
Cite this Entry
“Barbarous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/barbarous. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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