Adjacent Words

Savage definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SAV'AGE, a. [L. silva, a wood, or silvicola, an inhabitant of a wood, or silvaticus.]
1. Pertaining to the forest; wild; remote from human residence and improvements; uncultivated; as a savage wilderness.
Cornels and savage berries of the wood.
2. Wild; untamed; as savage beasts of prey.
3. Uncivilized; untaught; unpolished; rude; as savage life; savage manners.
What nation since the commencement of the christian era, ever rose from savage to civilized without christianity?
4. Cruel; barbarous; fierce; ferocious; inhuman; brutal; as a savage spirit.
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. The savages of America, when uncorrupted by the vices of civilized men, are remarkable for their hospitality to strangers, and for their truth, fidelity and gratitude to their friends, but implacably cruel and revengeful towards their enemies. From this last trait of the savage character, the word came to signify,
2. A man of extreme, unfeeling, brutal cruelty; a barbarian.
3. The name of a genus of fierce voracious flies.
SAV'AGE, v.t. To make wild, barbarous or cruel. [Not well authorized and little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
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" [syn: barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious]
2: wild and menacing; "a pack of feral dogs" [syn: feral, ferine, savage]
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" [syn: barbarian, barbaric, savage, uncivilized, uncivilised, wild]
4: marked by extreme and violent energy; "a ferocious beating"; "fierce fighting"; "a furious battle" [syn: ferocious, fierce, furious, savage] n
1: a member of an uncivilized people [syn: savage, barbarian]
2: a cruelly rapacious person [syn: beast, wolf, savage, brute, wildcat] v
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" [syn: savage, blast, pillory, crucify]

Merriam Webster's

I. biographical name Michael Joseph 1872-1940 prime minister of New Zealand (1935-40) II. biographical name Richard 1697?-1743 English poet

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French salvage, savage, from Late Latin salvaticus, alteration of Latin silvaticus of the woods, wild, from silva wood, forest Date: 13th century 1. a. not domesticated or under human control ; untamed <savage beasts> b. lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings ; fierce, ferocious <a savage criminal> 2. wild, uncultivated <seldom have I seen such savage scenery — Douglas Carruthers> 3. a. boorish, rude <the savage bad manners of most motorists — M. P. O'Connor> b. malicious 4. lacking complex or advanced culture ; uncivilized <a savage country> Synonyms: see fierce • savagely adverb • savageness noun II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a person belonging to a primitive society 2. a brutal person 3. a rude or unmannerly person III. transitive verb (savaged; savaging) Date: 1880 to attack or treat brutally

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. --adj. 1 fierce; cruel (savage persecution; a savage blow). 2 wild; primitive (savage tribes; a savage animal). 3 archaic (of scenery etc.) uncultivated (a savage scene). 4 colloq. angry; bad-tempered (in a savage mood). 5 Heraldry (of the human figure) naked. --n. 1 Anthropol. derog. a member of a primitive tribe. 2 a cruel or barbarous person. --v.tr. 1 (esp. of a dog, wolf, etc.) attack and bite or trample. 2 (of a critic etc.) attack fiercely. Derivatives: savagedom n. savagely adv. savageness n. savagery n. (pl. -ies). Etymology: ME f. OF sauvage wild f. L silvaticus f. silva a wood

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. 2. Wild; untamed; uncultivated; as, savage beasts. Cornels, and savage berries of the wood. --Dryden. 3. Uncivilized; untaught; unpolished; rude; as, savage life; savage manners. What nation, since the commencement of the Christian era, ever rose from savage to civilized without Christianity? --E. D. Griffin. 4. Characterized by cruelty; barbarous; fierce; ferocious; inhuman; brutal; as, a savage spirit. Syn: Ferocious; wild; uncultivated; untamed; untaught; uncivilized; unpolished; rude; brutish; brutal; heathenish; barbarous; cruel; inhuman; fierce; pitiless; merciless; unmerciful; atrocious. See Ferocious.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. 2. A man of extreme, unfeeling, brutal cruelty; a barbarian.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Savage Sav"age (?; 48), v. t. To make savage. [R.] Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf. --Southey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(savages, savaging, savaged) 1. Someone or something that is savage is extremely cruel, violent, and uncontrolled. This was a savage attack on a defenceless young girl. ...a savage dog lunging at the end of a chain. = vicious ADJ • savagely He was savagely beaten. ADV 2. If you refer to people as savages, you dislike them because you think that they do not have an advanced society and are violent. ...their conviction that the area was a frozen desert peopled with uncouth savages. N-COUNT: usu pl [disapproval] 3. If someone is savaged by a dog or other animal, the animal attacks them violently. The animal then turned on him and he was savaged to death. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 4. If someone or something that they have done is savaged by another person, that person criticizes them severely. The show had already been savaged by critics... Speakers called for clearer direction and savaged the Chancellor. VERB: be V-ed, V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Uncultivated (as a forest), wild, rough, sylvan. 2. Uncivilized (like an inhabitant of the woods), untaught, rude, unpolished. 3. Wild, untamed, fierce, ferocious, rapacious, ravenous, ferine, blood-thirsty. 4. Inhuman, beastly, brutal, brutish, brute. 5. Cruel, barbarous, fierce, ferocious, inhuman, brutal, fell, remorseless, pitiless, unmerciful, ruthless, merciless, heathenish, relentless, hard-hearted, sanguinary, bloody, murderous, truculent, vandalic. 6. Enraged (colloq.). II. n. Barbarian.

Moby Thesaurus

Draconian, Goth, Gothic, Mafioso, Neanderthal, Tartarean, Young Turk, abrade, abuse, afflict, aggressive, aggrieve, agonize, animal, antagonistic, anthropophagite, anthropophagous, assault, atrocious, attack, baneful, barbarian, barbaric, barbarize, barbarous, bark, batter, battling, beast, beastly, befoul, beldam, bellicose, belligerent, berserk, berserker, bestial, bewitch, blemish, blight, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, bomber, break, bruise, brutal, brutalize, brutalized, brute, brutish, buffet, burn, butcher, cannibal, cannibalistic, carry on, chafe, chauvinist, chauvinistic, check, chip, claw, coldhearted, combative, condemn, contentious, convulse, corrupt, crack, craze, crucify, cruel, cruel-hearted, curse, cut, damage, deadly, death-bringing, deathful, deathly, defile, demon, demoniac, demoniacal, demonic, deprave, despoil, destroy, destroyer, destructive, devil, devilish, diabolic, disadvantage, disserve, distress, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do violence to, do wrong, do wrong by, do wrong to, doom, dragon, enemy, enraged, envenom, excruciate, fatal, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, fiend, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, fighting, fighting mad, fire-eater, firebrand, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, full of fight, fuming, furious, fury, gall, gash, get into trouble, go on, goon, gorilla, grim, gunsel, hammer, harass, hardnose, harm, harrow, harsh, hawkish, heartless, hell-raiser, hellcat, hellhound, hellion, hellish, hex, holy terror, hood, hoodlum, hopping mad, hostile, hothead, hotspur, hurt, hyena, ill-bred, ill-treat, ill-use, impair, impale, implacable, impolite, in a rage, incendiary, incise, infect, infernal, infuriate, infuriated, inhuman, inhumane, inimical, injure, internecine, jingo, jingoish, jingoist, jingoistic, jinx, kill by inches, kill-crazy, killer, killing, knock about, lacerate, lancinate, lay waste, lethal, loot, macerate, mad dog, madcap, maim, make mincemeat of, malign, malignant, maltreat, man-eater, manhandle, martial, martyr, martyrize, maul, menace, merciless, militant, militaristic, military, mishandle, mistreat, molest, monster, mortal, mug, mugger, murderous, mutilate, nihilist, noncivilized, offensive, outlandish, outrage, pernicious, persecute, pierce, pillage, pitiless, play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, prejudice, primeval, primitive, pugnacious, puncture, punish, quarrelsome, rabid, rack, rage, raging, ramp, rampage, rant, ranting, rapacious, rape, rapist, rave, ravenous, raving, raving mad, relentless, rend, revolutionary, riot, rip, roar, roaring mad, rough, rough up, rough-and-ready, rude, rugged, ruin, run, rupture, ruthless, saber-rattling, sack, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, scald, scarify, scathe, scorch, scotch, scrape, scrappy, scratch, scuff, shark, sharkish, she-wolf, skin, slash, slaughter, slavering, slit, soldierlike, soldierly, sow chaos, spitfire, sprain, stab, stick, storm, storming, strain, subhuman, taint, tameless, tear, tear around, termagant, terror, terrorist, terrorize, threaten, tiger, tigress, torment, torture, tough, tough guy, traumatize, trigger-happy, troglodyte, troglodytic, truculent, ugly customer, unbroken, unchristian, uncivil, uncivilized, uncombed, uncontrolled, uncouth, uncultivated, uncultured, undomesticated, unfriendly, ungentle, unhuman, unkempt, unlicked, unmerciful, unpacific, unpeaceful, unpolished, unrefined, unrelenting, unsubdued, untamed, vandal, vandalize, vicious, violate, violent, virago, virulent, vixen, voracious, warlike, warmongering, warring, wild, wild beast, wild man, witch, wolf, wolfish, wound, wreak havoc on, wreck, wrecker, wrench, wring, wrong