barbarisms
Violations of propriety
Barbarisms are words or expressions that violate standard usage—grammatical errors, mispronunciations, or foreign terms used inappropriately in a language.
The term carries judgment: what counts as barbarism depends on who's policing the boundaries.
In classical rhetoric, barbarism meant corrupting a word's form, while solecism meant corrupting syntax.
More broadly, barbarisms can refer to acts of cruelty or cultural coarseness: the barbarisms of war.
Extreme, violent cruelty
- crueltyDeliberate harm-causing disposition
- atrocityUnforgivable mass cruelty
- violenceHarmful physical force
- inhumanityExtreme cruelty toward others
ferocity · viciousness · bloodshed · torture · ruthlessness · pillage · massacre · slaughter
Extreme, violent cruelty
- primitivenessUndeveloped, basic quality
- backwardnessState of being undeveloped
- uncouthnessLack of polish
- boorishnessCrude, uncouth conduct
crudeness · coarseness · roughness · vulgarity · brutishness · philistinism · ignorance · illiteracy
Grammatical or social blunder
- loanwordImported vocabulary item
- anglicismEnglish loanword abroad
- neologismNewly created expression
- calqueBorrowed phrase translated literally
malapropism · grammatical error · impropriety · vulgarism · colloquialism · slang · jargon · pidgin
Old and outdated
- obsoleteNo longer in use
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
- archaicBelonging to earlier times
dated · old-fashioned · medieval · ancient · antediluvian · bygone · defunct · disused
savagery
Extreme, violent cruelty
- crueltyDeliberate harm-causing disposition
- atrocityUnforgivable mass cruelty
- violenceHarmful physical force
inhumanity · ferocity · viciousness · bloodshed · torture · ruthlessness · pillage · massacre · slaughter · mutilation
savagery
Extreme, violent cruelty
- primitivenessUndeveloped, basic quality
- backwardnessState of being undeveloped
- uncouthnessLack of polish
boorishness · crudeness · coarseness · roughness · vulgarity · brutishness · philistinism · ignorance · illiteracy · heathenism
solecism
Grammatical or social blunder
calque · malapropism · grammatical error · impropriety · vulgarism · colloquialism · slang · jargon · pidgin · creole
antiquated
Old and outdated
- obsoleteNo longer in use
- anachronisticWrongly placed in time
- outmodedNo longer in fashion
archaic · dated · old-fashioned · medieval · ancient · antediluvian · bygone · defunct · disused · outdated
barbarismseloquence
Persuasive verbal grace
elegance · proper grammar · fine writing · articulacy · fluency
barbarismsrefinement
Elegance of manner
civilization · cultivation · sophistication · urbanity · culture