barbarians
Crude foreign hordes
Barbarians originally meant foreigners—people who spoke unintelligibly, whose language sounded like "bar bar" to Greek ears.
The term now describes uncivilized or primitive peoples, often those who invaded classical civilizations: Barbarians sacked Rome in 410 AD.
More loosely, barbarian labels anyone crude, uncultured, or brutish: The vandals who trashed the park were absolute barbarians.
Fierce and untamed
- brutalSavagely harsh or severe
- uncivilizedLacking social graces
- uncouthLacking good manners
- primitiveIn earliest form
ruthless · ferocious · merciless · crude · boorish · philistine · uncultured · heathen
Related family groups
- chieftainsLeaders of clans
- nomadsUnsettled, roving people
- warlordsMilitary leaders controlling regions
- hordesVery large crowds
raiders · pillagers · plunderers · marauders · kinfolk · encampments · migrations · conquests
East Germanic tribal people
- HunsCentral Asian invaders
- VandalsEast Germanic tribal kingdom
- VisigothsGermanic tribe, sacked Rome
- GaulsAncient Western European peoples
Celts · Scythians · Thracians · Ostrogoths · Franks · Saxons · Picts · Angles
Those who plunder
- maraudersRoving plunderers
- pillagersThose who ransack
- berserkersFrenzied Norse warriors
- horsemenPeople who ride equines
invaders · conquerors · mercenaries · swordsmen · axemen · archers · siege · plunder
savage
Fierce and untamed
- brutalSavagely harsh or severe
- uncivilizedLacking social graces
- uncouthLacking good manners
primitive · ruthless · ferocious · merciless · crude · boorish · philistine · uncultured · heathen · brutish
clans
Related family groups
- chieftainsLeaders of clans
- nomadsUnsettled, roving people
- warlordsMilitary leaders controlling regions
hordes · raiders · pillagers · plunderers · marauders · kinfolk · encampments · migrations · conquests · invasions
Goths
East Germanic tribal people
Gauls · Celts · Scythians · Thracians · Ostrogoths · Franks · Saxons · Picts · Angles · Jutes
raiders
Those who plunder
- maraudersRoving plunderers
- pillagersThose who ransack
- berserkersFrenzied Norse warriors
horsemen · invaders · conquerors · mercenaries · swordsmen · axemen · archers · siege · plunder · rampage
foreigners
People from elsewhere
enemies · other · frontier · border · beyond · unknown · alien · hostile · threatening · feared
- invadersinvaders, raiders, marauders, pillagers, plunderers
- raidersraiders, marauders, pillagers, plunderers, looters
- fantasywizard, witch, magic, dragon, elf
- Roman Fallfall of Rome, collapse, decline, invasions, Goths
- Late AntiquityConstantine, Theodosius I, Constantinople, fall of Rome, Roman Empire
- miniature wargamingdwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, dragons
barbariansaesthetes
Appreciators of beauty
sophisticates · intellectuals · connoisseurs · scholars · literati
barbarianshumanitarians
Those who promote welfare
gentlefolk · peacemakers · saviors · protectors · builders
- barbarian tribesPeoples outside civilization's borders
- barbarian raidsAttacks by uncivilized tribes
- barbarian kingdomsPost-imperial Germanic polities