philistines

noun

plural of philistine
as in materialists
a person who is chiefly interested in material comfort and is hostile or indifferent to art and culture the town's philistines who think that spending on the arts is a waste of taxpayers' money

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for philistines
  1. clowns
  2. capitalists
  3. rats
Noun
  • The gasoline shortage has become such a feature of daily life that even clowns at Moscow’s circus have cracked jokes about it.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
  • Because some of them are showing up to the game looking like clowns.
    — Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of clowns
Noun
  • Other significant players include venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman.
    — Katie McQue, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026
  • At the same time, national governments need to follow established best practices and create attractive environments for top innovators, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists.
    — Andrew McAfee, Foreign Affairs, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of capitalists
Noun
  • Students have drawn attention to rundown classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become sweltering in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026
  • But of course where there’s one rat, there are usually more, and swarms of rats and an angry sea soon become the man’s antagonists.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of rats
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

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Cite this Entry

“Philistines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/philistines. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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