[syn: boisterous, fierce, rough]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fierce \Fierce\, a. [Compar. Fiercer; superl. Fiercest.]
[OE. fers, fiers, OF. fier, nom. fiers, fierce, savage,
cruel, F. fier proud, from L. ferus wild, savage, cruel;
perh. akin to E. bear the animal. Cf. Feral, Ferocity.]
1. Furious; violent; unrestrained; impetuous; as, a fierce
wind.
[1913 Webster]
His fierce thunder drove us to the deep. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Vehement in anger or cruelty; ready or eager to kill or
injure; of a nature to inspire terror; ferocious. "A
fierce whisper." --Dickens. "A fierce tyrant." --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
The fierce foe hung upon our broken rear. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. --Job. x. 16.
[1913 Webster]
3. Excessively earnest, eager, or ardent.
Syn: Ferocious; savage; cruel; vehement; impetuous;
barbarous; fell. See Ferocious. -- Fierce"ly, adv.
-- Fierce"ness, n.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fierce
adj 1: marked by extreme and violent energy; "a ferocious
beating"; "fierce fighting"; "a furious battle" [syn:
ferocious, fierce, furious, savage]
2: marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions;
inclined to react violently; fervid; "fierce loyalty"; "in a
tearing rage"; "vehement dislike"; "violent passions" [syn:
fierce, tearing, vehement, violent, trigger-happy]
3: ruthless in competition; "cutthroat competition"; "bowelless
readiness to take advantage" [syn: cutthroat, fierce,
bowelless]
4: violently agitated and turbulent; "boisterous winds and
waves"; "the fierce thunders roar me their music"- Ezra
Pound; "rough weather"; "rough seas" [syn: boisterous,
fierce, rough]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
227 Moby Thesaurus words for "fierce":
Draconian, Tartarean, abandoned, acid, acidulous, acrid,
acrimonious, acute, aggressive, amok, angry, animal, antagonistic,
anthropophagous, astringent, atrocious, awful, barbaric, barbarous,
battling, beastly, bellicose, belligerent, bellowing, berserk,
bestial, biting, bitter, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded,
brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, carried away,
caustic, chauvinist, chauvinistic, combative, concentrated,
contentious, cruel, cruel-hearted, cutting, dangerous, delirious,
demoniac, demoniacal, desperate, devilish, diabolic, dire,
distracted, double-edged, drastic, dreadful, ecstatic, edged,
enemy, enraged, enraptured, escharotic, excessive, exorbitant,
exquisite, extravagant, extreme, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious,
fiendish, fiendlike, fiery, fighting, fighting mad, frantic,
frenzied, full of fight, fulminating, fuming, furious, great, grim,
haggard, harsh, hawkish, hellish, hog-wild, homicidal, hopping mad,
hostile, hotheaded, howling, hysterical, immoderate, impetuous,
in a rage, in a transport, in hysterics, incisive, infernal,
infuriate, infuriated, inhuman, inhumane, inimical, inordinate,
intemperate, intense, intoxicated, intractable, jingo, jingoish,
jingoist, jingoistic, keen, kill-crazy, mad, maddened, madding,
malign, malignant, maniac, martial, menacing, merciless, militant,
militaristic, military, mordacious, mordant, murderous,
noncivilized, offensive, orgasmic, orgiastic, outrageous,
passionate, penetrating, piercing, pitiless, poignant, possessed,
pugnacious, quarrelsome, rabid, racking, raging, ramping, ranting,
raving, raving mad, ravished, rigorous, roaring, roaring mad,
rough, running mad, ruthless, saber-rattling, sadistic, sanguinary,
sanguineous, satanic, savage, scathing, scrappy, severe, sharkish,
sharp, simmering, slavering, soldierlike, soldierly, splitting,
stabbing, stinging, storming, stormy, strident, stringent,
subhuman, superlative, supreme, tameless, tart, tempestuous,
terrible, threatening, tigerish, tornadic, tough, transcendent,
transported, trenchant, trigger-happy, truculent, tumultuous,
turbulent, unchristian, uncivilized, unconscionable,
uncontrollable, unfriendly, ungentle, unhuman, unpacific,
unpeaceable, unpeaceful, untamed, vehement, venomous, vicious,
violent, virulent, vitriolic, volcanic, warlike, warmongering,
warring, wild, wild-eyed, wild-looking, wolfish