From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbarbarismbar‧bar‧is‧m /ˈbɑːbərɪzəm $ ˈbɑːr-/ noun [uncountable] 1 BAD BEHAVIOUR OR ACTIONSextremely violent and cruel behaviour2 a situation in which people have no respect for civilized things such as art and culture cultural barbarism
Examples from the Corpus
barbarism• Whitney, the butcher, who was feared for his savagery and barbarism.• Each side exaggerated and widely publicized the acts of barbarism and cruelty committed by the opponent.• In its new sense, civilization meant broadly the opposite of barbarism.• There may be a moral here: perhaps we need a touch of barbarism to secure civilisation.• Gradually the prevailing barbarism was tempered.• All suffer and all demonstrate the barbarism of the conflict. 