> Now try “barbaric”. Definition two: “primitive; unsophisticated” Yes, definition two. I reiterate what I said before: you're searching for fringe meanings to

> Now try “barbaric”. Definition two: “primitive; unsophisticated” Yes, definition two. I reiterate what I said before: you're searching for fringe meanings to back up your argument. Your original comment argued that the meaning of 'barbaric' was primarily about simplicity and primitiveness, in order to argue that the phrase 'nature is barbaric' is agnostic about nature's cruelty. This makes for a neat-sounding argument, but, again, it's unfortunately just not true. The word 'barbaric' has signified cruelty as its dominant meaning ever since the Romans. (I know it's tempting to twist the facts a little to make an elegant argument, but it's just not honest to cherry-pick secondary definitions, or anomalous definitions from minor dictionaries, and use sleight-of-hand to pretend that's the main understood meaning.)