English Explanatory Dictionary

savage

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Wild; not cultivated or tamed.
  2. Barbaric; not civilized.
  3. Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.
  4. Fierce and ferocious.
  5. Brutal, vicious, or merciless.
  6. Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way.
  7. Unpleasant or unfair.
  8. Great, brilliant, amazing.
  9. Severe, rude, aggressive.
noun
  1. A person not living in a civilization; a barbarian.
  2. An aggressively defiant person.
  3. Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.
  4. A wild and ferocious beast.
verb
  1. To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.
  2. To criticise vehemently.
  3. To attack with the teeth.
  4. To make savage.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland.
  3. A suburban city in Scott County, Minnesota; a suburb of Minneapolis.
  4. An unincorporated community in Tate County, Mississippi.
  5. An unincorporated community in Richland County, Montana.

Pronunciation

/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/ en-us-savage.ogg

Word forms

savage more savage most savage savages salvage savaging savaged

Etymology

From Middle English savage, from Old French sauvage, salvage (“wild, untamed”), from Late Latin salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”), from silva (“forest; grove”). Doublet of sylvatic.

Synonyms

animalistic barbarian barbaric barbarious barbarous brutal brutish Gothic Gothlike grim heathen heathenish heathenly heathenous incivil pagan savage tenebrose truculent uncivil uncivilized uncouth uncultivated uncultured uplandish wolfish feral indomite tameless ferine untame untamed wild crude rough rude fierce furious rabid ferocious incessive infuriate raging volatile ruthless sadistic spiteful bowelless compassionless cruel demonic despiteful diabolic diabolical fell inclement inhuman inhumane malicious merciless

Antonyms

civilized cultured non-barbaric nonbarbarous nonheathen nonpagan unbarbarous unheathen unpagan unsavage

Related words

noble savage sylvan ignorant impolite medieval primitive raw rude wild

Derived words

antisavage demi-savage postsavage savagedom savagely Savage Mountain savageness Savage River savagery savagess savagism savagize semisavage sweet savage romance unsavage Savagean
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