Philistine

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Simply put, if you can’t take Duchamp or conceptual art seriously, you are a philistine, by the definition of the art world.

From Washington Post • Dec. 17, 2022

It ill behoves either him or Bruckner to try to frame this as evidence of a vindictive philistine world.

From The Guardian • Sep. 1, 2019

QT understands instinctively what Nabokov meant in his postscript to “Lolita”: “There is nothing more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.”

From Salon • Aug. 17, 2019

Nietzsche is presented as the great apostle of the free spirit, the nonconformist and the rugged individualist living in the age of the philistine and the “last man.”

From New York Times • Nov. 20, 2018

At first glance classic style sounds naive and philistine, suited only to a world of concrete goings-on.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker