savage

Noun · Verb · Adjective
Synonyms: barbarianbeastwolfbrutewildcatblastpillorycrucifybarbarousbrutalcruelfell

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a member of an uncivilized peopleSynonyms: barbarian
  2. a cruelly rapacious personSynonyms: beastwolfbrutewildcat

Verb (2)

  1. attack brutally and fiercely
  2. criticize harshly or violently“The press savaged the new President”“The critics crucified the author for plagiarizing a famous passage”Synonyms: blastpillorycrucify

Adjective (4)

  1. (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering“a barbarous crime”“brutal beatings”“cruel tortures”“Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks”“a savage slap”“vicious kicks”Synonyms: barbarousbrutalcruelfellroughshodvicious
  2. wild and menacing“a pack of feral dogs”Synonyms: feralferine
  3. without civilizing influences“barbarian invaders”“barbaric practices”“a savage people”“fighting is crude and uncivilized especially if the weapons are efficient — Margaret Meade”“wild tribes”Synonyms: barbarianbarbaricuncivilizeduncivilisedwild
  4. marked by extreme and violent energy“a ferocious beating”“fierce fighting”“a furious battle”Synonyms: ferociousfiercefurious
Advertisement

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Savage \Sav"age\, n.

1.A human being in his native state of rudeness; one who is untaught, uncivilized, or without cultivation of mind or manners. [1913 Webster]

2.A man of extreme, unfeeling, brutal cruelty; a barbarian. [1913 Webster]

Savage \Sav"age\ (?; 48), v. t. To make savage. [R.] [1913 Webster]

Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf. --Southey. [1913 Webster]

Savage \Sav"age\ (?; 48), a. [F. sauvage, OF. salvage, fr. L. silvaticus belonging to a wood, wild, fr. silva a wood. See Silvan, and cf. Sylvatic.]

1.Of or pertaining to the forest; remote from human abodes and cultivation; in a state of nature; wild; as, a savage wilderness. [1913 Webster]

2.Wild; untamed; uncultivated; as, savage beasts. [1913 Webster]

Cornels, and savage berries of the wood.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

3.Uncivilized; untaught; unpolished; rude; as, savage life; savage manners. [1913 Webster]

What nation, since the commencement of the Christian era, ever rose from savage to civilized without Christianity?— E. D. Griffin.[1913 Webster]

4.Characterized by cruelty; barbarous; fierce; ferocious; inhuman; brutal; as, a savage spirit. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Ferocious; wild; uncultivated; untamed; untaught; uncivilized; unpolished; rude; brutish; brutal; heathenish; barbarous; cruel; inhuman; fierce; pitiless; merciless; unmerciful; atrocious. See Ferocious. [1913 Webster]

Advertisement