as in idiocy
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Recent Examples of philistinism
Despite such official philistinism, Proust had already left an enduring mark on Irish letters and would remain a source of literary inspiration for the nation’s writers into the twenty-first century.
—
Literary Hub, 2 Feb. 2026
Literary Hub, 2 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for philistinism
Noun
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That’s the level of idiocy in the Los Angeles city government.—
Susan Shelley,
Daily News,
13 May 2026
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The idiocy of these people knows no bounds.—
Austin Perry OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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When Constanze reaches her breaking point, Mozart’s imbecility is exposed as fragility.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Unlike its sibling concepts of dumbness and idiocy, stupidity isn’t really a personality trait.—
Jonny Thomson,
Big Think,
11 Feb. 2026
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Compare that to punk rock, which used dumbness as a tactic.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Don’t just try to be brilliant; focus on avoiding stupidity.—
Nilton Bernini,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
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Nobody doggedly builds a stand-up career that takes them from clubs to theaters to selling out arena tours from a foundation of genuine stupidity.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
28 May 2026
Noun
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There’s the White House and its malicious megaphone of mindlessness; the generative AI advocates and their pushy, pathetic ploys; the Major League Baseball owners and their dedication to self-destruction.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
20 Feb. 2026
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The show’s real villain is mindlessness, in other words.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Philistinism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistinism. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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