Bar"ba*rous (?), 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.
2. Foreign; adapted to a barbaric taste.
[Obs.]
Barbarous gold.
Dryden.
3. Cruel; ferocious; inhuman; merciless.
By their barbarous usage he died within a few days,
to the grief of all that knew him.
Clarendon.
4. Contrary to the pure idioms of a
language.
A barbarous expression
G. Campbell.
Syn. -- Uncivilized; unlettered; uncultivated; untutored;
ignorant; merciless; brutal. See Ferocious.