Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To cause a person, group, or culture to become crude, savage, or uncivilized in behavior, speech, or customs.
   • To corrupt or degrade something, such as a language, by making it crude or by introducing foreign, non-standard, or inferior elements.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To become crude, savage, or uncivilized in behavior or language.
   • To adopt or degenerate into barbaric characteristics.

Examples of Usage

• Verb (transitive):
  • The brutal conditions of war can barbarize even the most civilized societies.
  • Critics argued that simplifying the classic text would barbarize its elegant language.
• Verb (intransitive):
  • Without the rule of law, the community began to barbarize, resorting to violence to settle disputes.
  • Some fear the local dialect will barbarize if it absorbs too many slang terms without structure.

Advanced Usage

• "to barbarize a culture": to strip a culture of its refinement and complexity, often through violent conquest or oppressive policies.
  • Historians debate whether the invasion served to enlighten or to barbarize the local culture.
• Used in sociological or historical discourse to describe a process of regression from a perceived state of civilization.

Variants and Related Words

• Barbarism (n): 1. An act, trait, or custom characterized by cruelty or savagery. 2. A word or expression that is considered nonstandard or corrupt.
  • Using violence to solve problems is an act of barbarism.
• Barbaric (adj): Savagely cruel or uncivilized.
  • The barbaric treatment of prisoners was condemned.
• Barbarian (n): Historically, a member of a people considered uncivilized. Figuratively, a rude or insensitive person.
  • The empire was threatened by invading barbarians from the north.

Synonyms

• Brutalize: To make brutal, cruel, or inhuman.
• Degrade: To lower in character, quality, or value.
• Corrupt: To cause to become morally debased or to alter for the worse.
• Savage (verb): To attack ferociously; to make savage.

Antonyms

• Civilize: To bring to a more advanced or humane stage of social development.
• Refine: To improve by making small changes; to make more cultured or polished.
• Edify: To instruct or improve morally or intellectually.

Related Phrases/Idioms

• To barbarize the language: A common collocation referring to the perceived corruption or simplification of a language, often by introducing excessive slang, incorrect grammar, or foreign words without integration.
  • Purists complain that text messaging is starting to barbarize the language.

Verb

1. make crude or savage in behavior or speech
   • his years in prison have barbarized the young man
2. become crude or savage or barbaric in behavior or language