philistine 1 of 2

as in materialist
a person who is chiefly interested in material comfort and is hostile or indifferent to art and culture the town's philistines who think that spending on the arts is a waste of taxpayers' money

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

philistine

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adjective

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Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of philistine
Adjective
In pre-Revolutionary Russia some critics derided his compositions as bourgeois work aimed at philistine audiences. Barrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2022 There was no reason — other than bankrupt ideology and blinkered philistine pig-ignorance — not to go hog-wild with stimulus, say, $2 trillion for starters. Ryan Cooper, The Week, 10 Jan. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for philistine
Adjective
  • The keypad dimmer, pictured at the top of this story, is more utilitarian, with programmable buttons for scenes or group control and up-and-down buttons for dimming at the bottom.
    Wes Davis, The Verge, 7 Jan. 2025
  • Enlisting their quintessentially Italian ingenuity, the fashion magnates took over the Fay brand which was, at the time, a producer of technical garments for fishermen and firefighters, and set their sights on adapting the firmly utilitarian design for a luxury clientele.
    Caroline Reilly, Robb Report, 3 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Individuals high on this dimension can admit to their mistakes, refrain from overly materialistic pursuits and an envy of others’ possessions.
    Mark Travers, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024
  • Beijing officials routinely order these companies to alter their internal practices, such as by ordering social media platforms to suppress overly materialistic content.
    Eleanor Pringle, Fortune Asia, 8 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • For their part, the Russians considered the Mizrahim—indeed, most Israelis—loud, uncultured boors.
    Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 5 Oct. 2024
  • Inserting two distinct forms of the gene into clusters of uncultured cells, the team discovered that the form of NOVA1 found in H. neanderthalensis created bumpier blobs of brain tissue when cultured, while the form of NOVA1 found in H. sapiens created smooth, spherical clumps.
    Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 1 Mar. 2023
Adjective
  • With a few pragmatic exceptions, fact checkers go over everything published by the magazine, editing for balance, fairness, and context.
    Fergus McIntosh, The New Yorker, 11 Jan. 2025
  • The harsh reality is that in opting for a colder, more pragmatic approach, the means have to justify the end.
    Jordan Campbell, The Athletic, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Pearce plays Van Buren as hungry and avaricious even in his kinder moments, a man of immense wealth whose primary desire is to own more and more.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
  • Ever since the United States liberated Kuwait from the avaricious clutches of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War of 1990-91, the Kuwaitis have supported U.S. priorities in the Middle East and elsewhere.
    Martin Indyk, Foreign Affairs, 14 Feb. 2022
Adjective
  • What Should the New Name Be? Clearly, the goal was a name that felt neither too highbrow nor too lowbrow, as restaurants have been trending toward an unstuffy seriousness for decades.
    Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 10 July 2024
  • Tobe Hooper’s 1974 slasher masterpiece embraced its lowbrow status with its matter-of-fact title and unapologetic gore, likely seen by many as a cheap attempt to ride shock value into a quick box office gold mine.
    Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2024
Adjective
  • The condition for the survival of an acquisitive society is twofold.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2011
  • The synergies that acquisitive CEOs routinely promise often fail to materialize, but in this instance there was never any realistic prospect for synergies.
    Martin Fridson, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024
Adjective
  • All that’s there is an artless effort to provoke outrage — Tony Hinchcliffe with the world’s strongest Boston accent.
    Joe Berkowitz, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
  • The effort of analyzing this video, a piece of artless misinformation, was beneath Abu Hamdan, who has dedicated himself to unveiling the violence of the world through the medium of sound.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near philistine

Cite this Entry

“Philistine.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistine. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.

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