a. [ L. barbarus, Gr. ba`rbaros, strange, foreign; later, slavish, rude, ignorant; akin to L. balbus stammering, Skr. barbara stammering, outlandish. Cf. Brave, a. ] 1. Being in the state of a barbarian; uncivilized; rude; peopled with barbarians; as, a barbarous people; a barbarous country. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Foreign; adapted to a barbaric taste. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Barbarous gold. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Cruel; ferocious; inhuman; merciless. [ 1913 Webster ] By their barbarous usage he died within a few days, to the grief of all that knew him. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. Contrary to the pure idioms of a language. [ 1913 Webster ] A barbarous expression G. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ] Syn. -- Uncivilized; unlettered; uncultivated; untutored; ignorant; merciless; brutal. See Ferocious. [ 1913 Webster ] | 
