barbarity

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bar·bar·i·ty

 (bär-băr′ĭ-tē)
n. pl. bar·bar·i·ties
1.
a. Savage brutality or cruelty: a dictator whose barbarity was only exceeded by that of his rival.
b. A cruel or savage act.
2. The condition of being uncivilized or uncultured: "All the little decorum and politeness we have ... are so ready to lapse into barbarity" (Jonathan Swift).

barbarity

(bɑːˈbærɪtɪ)
n, pl -ties
1. the state or condition of being barbaric or barbarous
2. a brutal or vicious act
3. a crude or unsophisticated quality, style, expression, etc

bar•bar•i•ty

(bɑrˈbær ɪ ti)

n., pl. -ties.
1. brutal conduct.
2. an act or instance of cruelty.
3. crudity of style.
[1560–70]
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.barbarity - the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumanebarbarity - the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane
atrociousness, atrocity, barbarousness, heinousness
inhumaneness, inhumanity - the quality of lacking compassion or consideration for others
2.barbarity - a brutal barbarous savage actbarbarity - a brutal barbarous savage act  
barbarism, brutality, savagery
atrocity, inhumanity - an act of atrocious cruelty

barbarity

barbarity

noun
A cruel act or an instance of cruel behavior:
bestiality, brutality, cruelty, inhumanity, savagery, truculence, truculency.
Translations

barbarity

[bɑːˈbærɪtɪ] N → barbaridad f

barbarity

[bɑːrˈbærɪti] n (= savagery) → barbarie f

barbarity

n → Barbarei f; (fig) → Primitivität f; (= cruelty: of guard etc) → Grausamkeit f, → Rohheit f; the barbarities of modern warfare → die Barbarei or die Gräuel pl → des modernen Krieges

barbarity

[bɑːˈbærɪtɪ] n → barbarie f inv
the barbarities of modern warfare → le atrocità della guerra moderna
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References in classic literature ?
Because I admired these barbarities of Poe's, I wished to irritate them, to spit some hapless victim on my own spear, to make him suffer and to make the reader laugh.
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These Galles lay everything where they come in ruin, putting all to the sword without distinction of age or sex; which barbarities, though their numbers are not great, have spread the terror of them over all the country.
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The trappers still considered them in the light of dangerous foes; and the Mexicans, very probably, charged them with the sin of horse-stealing; we have no other mode of accounting for the infamous barbarities of which, according to their own story, they were guilty; hunting the poor Indians like wild beasts, and killing them without mercy.
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To add to the fiendishness of their cruel savagery was the poignant memory of still crueler barbarities practiced upon them and theirs by the white officers of that arch hypocrite, Leopold II of Belgium, because of whose atrocities they had fled the Congo Free State--a pitiful remnant of what once had been a mighty tribe.
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Sometimes, when in a very complacent mood, he would go a-birds'-nesting with the children, a thing that irritated and annoyed me exceedingly; as, by frequent and persevering attempts, I flattered myself I had partly shown them the evil of this pastime, and hoped, in time, to bring them to some general sense of justice and humanity; but ten minutes' birds'-nesting with uncle Robson, or even a laugh from him at some relation of their former barbarities, was sufficient at once to destroy the effect of my whole elaborate course of reasoning and persuasion.
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