savage
Part of speech: adj
noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: more savage
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most savage
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: savages
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: salvage
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: savages
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: savaging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: savaged
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: savaged
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Wild; not cultivated or tamed.
pos: adj
examples: a savage wilderness
a savage forest
The Englishman had extracted the heavy spear from the body of the lion, so that when he went into the forest to hunt that morning he had a feeling of much greater security than at any time since they had been cast upon the savage shore.
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage / And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.
gloss: Barbaric; not civilized.
pos: adj
examples: savage manners
I obſerv'd a Place where there had been a Fire made, and a Circle dug in the Earth, like a Cockpit, where it is ſuppoſed the Savage Wretches had ſat down to their inhumane Feaſtings upon the Bodies of their Fellow-Creatures.
What nation since the commencement of the Christian era ever arose from savage to civilized without Christianity?
It is so absurd to advance into the presence of savage royalty after the fashion of an Irishman driving a pig to market, for that is what we looked like, and the idea nearly made me burst out laughing then and there.
Her back was toward the jungle, and so she did not see the grasses part, or the savage face that peered from between. Little, bloodshot, close-set eyes scanned her intently, roving from time to time about the open beach for indications of the presence of others than herself.
gloss: Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.
pos: adj
gloss: Fierce and ferocious.
pos: adj
examples: savage beasts
a savage spirit
Muſick has Charms to ſooth a ſavage Breaſt, / To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
gloss: Brutal, vicious, or merciless.
pos: adj
examples: He gave the dog a savage kick.
The woman was killed in a savage manner.
Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare.
Mr. Lightfoot, 31, returned to the witness stand for the second day and continued a harrowing, first-person account of the savage beating that he received in July 2012, when, Bronx prosecutors contend, the officers decided to teach him a lesson.
The fight is not all one-sided. Lion is taking a savage beating as the two flagships trade body blows almost independent of the furious carronade going on behind them.
gloss: Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way.
pos: adj
tags: slang
examples: Wow, that was a savage burn. Absolutely no chill.
'Oops, I did it again': Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson's deke was so savage it has a name
Stephen Colbert revealed a savage new campaign slogan for President Donald Trump on Wednesday ― and it came courtesy of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
But now Gen Z is coming for them and it's absolutely savage. TikTok comment sections like this one have revealed the fact no one likes millennials and their endless Harry Potter references.
This match continued the theme from last month as the two cousins started off with heated trash talk. Roman Reigns telling Jey Uso "I will end you..." in the same tone a parent tells their kid "I'm warning you..." was so savage.
A savage new song by Shakira in which the Colombian star, philanthropist and committed believer in the veracity of hips ridicules her former partner Gerard Piqué has logged more than 63m YouTube views in 24 hours, making it the most watched new Latin song in the platform's history.
gloss: Unpleasant or unfair.
pos: adj
tags: UK
slang
examples: – I'll see you in detention.
– Ah, savage!
gloss: Great, brilliant, amazing.
pos: adj
tags: Ireland
US
slang
gloss: Severe, rude, aggressive.
pos: adj
tags: US
slang
examples: – They were so savage to them!
gloss: A member of a traditional, nonindustrialised society or indigenous tribe or other group, typically living closely with nature outside of the infrastructure of urbanized civilization.
pos: noun
tags: derogatory
historical
examples: 'Well, my lord, I don't know,' said Freeman with a sort of jolly sneer; 'we have been dining with the savages.'
'They are not savages, Freeman.'
'Well, my lord, they have not much more clothes, anyhow; and as for knives and forks, there is not such a thing known.'
The natives here, even those who seem to be of pare Papuan race, were much more reserved and taciturn than those of Ké. This is probably because I only saw them as yet among strangers and in small parties. One must see the savage at home to know what he really is.
The glimpse of the steamboat had for some reason filled those savages with unrestrained grief.
In the year 1879, when the Utes succeeded in getting some United States troops into what was afterwards known as Thornburg's "rat hole," several mounted couriers succeeded in slipping through the circling line of savages.
When Davey grasped spears and wommera it was impossible to recognize in this painted savage the alert, nattily dressed tracker.
gloss: An aggressively defiant person.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: Their kids are little savages! One of them bit me the other day.
gloss: Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: It was on Dec. 29 that TikTok star Liv Pearsall posted a video titled "7 Times Elmo Was an Absolute Savage," in which the star with more than 2.7 million followers lip-synced to various Elmo-ments.
"Sometimes they would stay up while she'd have a whole new guy in a relationship," she wrote in a comment. "LMFAO she is a savage."
gloss: A wild and ferocious beast.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: The torch-eyed ſavage, with growl tremendous, riſing up, diſlocated at one blow the arched neck of Sadit's Arabian ſteed, and brought the unfortunate omrah to the duſt, expiring between his extended claws.
gloss: To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: No matter how anyone might savage me, I should stay strong.
But that was only the start, because the Fletchers - (obviously) carrying two torpedo launchers - were only launching half-salvos, so one full wave of torpedoes had driven off the cruisers after having savaged the destroyers, aaand then it was a case of, well, here come twenty-five destroyers, here comes^([sic]) two hundred and fifty torpedoes, hello Japanese battleships, dodge this!
gloss: To criticise vehemently.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: His latest film was savaged by most reviewers.
British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.
The first sparks came on Thursday night, with a blistering speech from Ben Shapiro[…] who bemoaned the “frauds” and “grifters” in the movement, and went on to savage by name a roster of powerful right-wing figures.
gloss: To attack with the teeth.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To make savage.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf.
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
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
Translations: