rebarbarize
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To cause a return to a barbarous or uncivilized state: "rebarbarize" means to make a people, culture, or language revert to a condition considered primitive, savage, or lacking in refinement. It implies a reversal of civilization or sophistication.
Usage Examples
- Verb:
- The prolonged war threatened to rebarbarize the once peaceful nation. (The conflict risked making the country return to a barbaric state.)
- Colonial policies often sought to rebarbarize indigenous languages by suppressing their literary development. (Colonial actions aimed to make the languages revert to a less refined condition.)
Advanced Usage
- "to rebarbarize a language": to cause a language to become corrupted, mixed with foreign elements, or lose its classical form.
- The influx of loanwords without adaptation can rebarbarize a language over time. (The uncontrolled borrowing can degrade the language's purity.)
Variants and Related Words
Rebarbarization (noun): the process or result of making something barbarous again.
- The rebarbarization of the region was evident in the destruction of its cultural institutions. (The return to a barbaric state was visible.)
Barbarize (verb): to make or become barbarous.
- Isolation from trade can barbarize a community. (Lack of contact can cause a decline in civilization.)
Synonyms
- Befoul: to make dirty or corrupt.
- Degrade: to lower in quality or character.
- Brutalize: to make cruel or savage.
Phrasal Verbs
- Rebarbarize into: to cause a transformation into a barbarous state.
- The collapse of law and order rebarbarized the society into a state of chaos. (The breakdown caused a return to barbarism.)
Related Idioms
- Return to the jungle: to revert to a primitive, lawless condition.
- Without education, the community risks a return to the jungle. (The community might become uncivilized again.)