Words / P / General

philistine

noun/ˈfɪlɪstaɪn/

C1CEFR level
60/100Rarity: rare
NeutralRegister

A person hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.

Calling opera "noise" marked him as a philistine.

Similar: boor, lowbrow

Origin: from the biblical Philistines.

Topic: Society & manners in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Society & manners