Definition

1. Noun:

   • A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts: A person who is smugly conventional, lacks in or is indifferent to artistic and intellectual values, and is often solely concerned with material or commonplace things.
   • A member of an ancient people: A member of a non-Semitic people who lived in ancient Philistia, on the coast of southwestern Canaan, around the 12th century BC.

2. Adjective:

   • Hostile or indifferent to culture and artistic values: Characterized by a smug, ignorant, and often anti-intellectual attitude toward artistic and cultural matters.
   • Of or relating to the ancient Philistines: Pertaining to the ancient people, their culture, or the region of Philistia.

Usage Examples

• Noun (cultural sense):

  • He dismissed the modern art exhibition, calling the artists charlatans; he is such a philistine.
  • The book critic was accused of being a philistine for preferring popular fiction to classic literature.

• Noun (historical sense):

  • According to the Bible, the young David defeated the Philistine giant Goliath.

• Adjective (cultural sense):

  • His philistine attitude prevented him from appreciating the symphony's complexity.
  • The city council's decision to demolish the historic theater was called a philistine act.

• Adjective (historical sense):

  • Archaeologists discovered Philistine pottery at the site.

Advanced Usage

• "philistinism" (noun): The attitude, quality, or character of a philistine; a smug indifference to or disdain for intellectual or artistic values.
  • The pervasive philistinism in the town meant there was little support for the public library.

Variants and Related Words

• Philistinism (n): The condition or quality of being philistine. (e.g., )
• Philistine (adj/n): The word is always capitalized when referring specifically to the ancient people. (e.g., vs. ).

Synonyms

• Noun (cultural sense): Boor, lowbrow, vulgarian, anti-intellectual.
• Adjective (cultural sense): Uncultured, uncultivated, anti-intellectual, bourgeois (in a derogatory sense).

Antonyms

• Noun: Aesthete, connoisseur, intellectual, highbrow.
• Adjective: Cultured, cultivated, intellectual, refined.

Idioms and Phrases

• "Philistine attitudes": A common phrase describing a collective disregard for cultural or intellectual pursuits.
  • The proposed budget cuts to the arts program revealed the committee's philistine attitudes.

Adjective

1. smug and ignorant and indifferent or hostile to artistic and cultural values
2. of or relating to ancient Philistia or its culture or its people

Noun

1. a member of an Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia around the 12th century BC
2. a person who is uninterested in intellectual pursuits