PHILISTINISM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Philistinism

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noun

Philistinism n. The condition, character, aims, and habits of the class called Philistines. See Philistine, 3. (Recent) "On the side of beauty and taste, vulgarity; on the side of morals and feeling, coarseness; on the side of mind and spirit, unintelligence, this is Philistinism."

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Etymology of 'Philistinism'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Philistinism" Quotes from Famous Books

... relief. No other period of Prussian history, says Heinrich von Treitschke,[9] is wrapped in so deep a gloom as the first decade of the reign of Frederick William III. It was a time rich in hidden intellectual forces, and yet it bore the stamp of that uninspired Philistinism which is so abundantly evidenced by the barren commonplace character of its architecture and art. Genius there was, indeed, but never were its opportunities for public usefulness more limited. It was as though the greatness of the ...

— Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry • Wilhelm Alfred Braun

... expect much. It helps them rarely when it takes them into its service, very certainly it will help them only when it gives them full independence. Only true Culture can prevent their early becoming weary or exhausted, and protect them from the exasperating battle with Culture-philistinism." ...

— The Journal of Arthur Stirling - "The Valley of the Shadow" • Upton Sinclair

Words linked to "Philistinism" : materialism, desire