savage
/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms savages savaging savaged salvage
- adjective Wild; not cultivated or tamed. “a savage wilderness”
- adjective Barbaric; not civilized. “savage manners”
- adjective Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.
- adjective Fierce and ferocious. “savage beasts”
- adjective Brutal, vicious, or merciless. “He gave the dog a savage kick.”
- adjective (slang) Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way. “Wow, that was a savage burn. Absolutely no chill.”
- adjective (UK, slang) Unpleasant or unfair. “– I'll see you in detention. – Ah, savage!”
- adjective (Ireland, US, slang) Great, brilliant, amazing.
- noun (historical, now derogatory) 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.
- noun (figuratively) An aggressively defiant person. “Their kids are little savages! One of them bit me the other day.”
- noun (slang) Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.
- noun (obsolete) A wild and ferocious beast.
- verb To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint. “No matter how anyone might savage me, I should stay strong.”
- verb (figuratively) To criticise vehemently. “His latest film was savaged by most reviewers.”
- verb (of an animal) To attack with the teeth.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To make savage.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland.
- proper noun A suburban city in Scott County, Minnesota; a suburb of Minneapolis.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Tate County, Mississippi.
Synonyms
feral indomite tameless ferine uplandish untame untamed wild barbarous pagan uncivil crude rough rude fierce furious rabid ferocious rampant grim barbarian beast wolf brute wildcat blast pillory crucify brutal cruel
Antonyms
civilized cultured non-barbaric nonbarbarous nonheathen nonpagan unbarbarous unheathen unpagan unsavage
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.
* As an English surname of Norman origin, from the adjective savage. Compare Sauvage.
* As an Irish surname, from ó Sabháin, also Anglicized as O'Savin; see Savin.
* As a Jewish and Slavic surname, Americanized from Savich, Serbo-Croatian Savić. See Savic.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Of or pertaining to the forest; remote from human abodes and cultivation; in a state of nature; nature; wild; as, a savage wilderness.
- adjective Wild; untamed; uncultivated; as, savage beasts.
- noun A human being in his native state of rudeness; one who is untaught; uncivilized, or without cultivation of mind or manners.
- noun A man of extreme, unfeeling, brutal cruelty; a barbarian.
Etymology [F. sauvage, OF. salvage, fr. L. silvaticus belonging to a wood, wild, fr. silva a wood. See Silvan, and cf. Sylvatic.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “savage”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details