savage

¹

[ sav-ij ]

adjective

1. fierce, ferocious, or cruel; untamed:

   savage beasts.

   Synonyms: bloodthirsty, fell, feral, wild

   Antonyms: mild

2. Offensive. relating to or being a preliterate people or society regarded as uncivilized or primitive.
3. enraged or furiously angry, as a person.
4. unpolished; rude:

   savage manners.

   Antonyms: cultured

5. wild or rugged, as country or scenery:

   savage wilderness.

   Synonyms: uncultivated, rough

   Antonyms: cultivated

6. Archaic. uncultivated; growing wild.

noun

1. a fierce, brutal, or cruel person.
2. a rude, boorish person.

   Synonyms: oaf, churl

3. Disparaging and Offensive. a member of a preliterate people or society regarded as uncivilized or primitive.

verb (used with object)

, sav·aged, sav·ag·ing.

1. to assault and maul by biting, rending, goring, etc.; tear at or mutilate:

   numerous sheep savaged by dogs.

2. to attack or criticize thoroughly or remorselessly; excoriate:

   a play savaged by the critics.

3. to greatly weaken, damage, or harm:

   The age of automation and globalization, with companies searching for lower wages overseas, has savaged organized labor.

Savage

²

[ sav-ij ]

noun

1. Michael Joseph, 1872–1940, New Zealand statesman and labor leader: prime minister 1935–40.
2. Richard, 1697?–1743, English poet.

Savage

¹

/ ˈsævɪdʒ /

noun

1. SavageMichael Joseph18721940MNew ZealandPOLITICS: statesmanPOLITICS: prime minister Michael Joseph. 1872-1940, New Zealand statesman; prime minister of New Zealand (1935-40)

savage

²

/ ˈsævɪdʒ /

adjective

1. wild; untamed

   savage beasts of the jungle

2. ferocious in temper; vicious

   a savage dog

3. uncivilized; crude

   savage behaviour

4. (of peoples) nonliterate or primitive

   a savage tribe

5. (of terrain) rugged and uncultivated
6. obsolete.
   far from human habitation

noun

1. a member of a nonliterate society, esp one regarded as primitive
2. a crude or uncivilized person
3. a fierce or vicious person or animal

verb

1. to criticize violently
2. to attack ferociously and wound

   the dog savaged the child

Derived Forms

• ˈsavagedom, noun
• ˈsavageness, noun
• ˈsavagely, adverb

Other Words From

• sav·age·ly adverb
• sav·age·ness noun
• half-sav·age adjective
• half-sav·age·ly adverb
• pre·sav·age adjective
• qua·si-sav·age adjective
• qua·si-sav·age·ly adverb
• sem·i·sav·age adjective
• un·sav·age adjective
• un·sav·age·ly adverb
• un·sav·age·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of savage¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English adjective savage, saveage, sauvage, salvage, from Old French sauvage, salvage, savage, Anglo-French sawage, from Medieval Latin salvāticus, for Latin silvāticus, equivalent to silv(a) “woods” + -āticus adjective suffix; noun derivative of the adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of savage¹

C13: from Old French sauvage, from Latin silvāticus belonging to a wood, from silva a wood

Synonym Study

See cruel.

Example Sentences

There's a whole community out there rushing to find documents, disks, and hard drives from the '80s and '90s before they're savaged by time and bit rot.

From Ars Technica

A great country cannot allow people to come in and savage it, have no consequences, and then wait for the next attack.

From Washington Post

I asked Savage to listen to “Sho Z-Pod Dupa” by DakhaBrakha to see where it fell on his universal scale.

From Nautilus

On this level, Mankiewicz’s film is a masterwork of subversion, a precursor to films that savaged the American love affair with normalcy—“The Graduate,” “Blue Velvet,” “American Beauty,” and “Fight Club” among them.

From Washington Blade

Stephanopoulos is a TV newsman, and Savage is a sex columnist.

From Voice of San Diego

Bolstered by the momentum of Savage, Masters continued to accumulate up-and-coming conservative talent.

From The Daily Beast

After two years, the dispute ended with an arbitration ruling in favor of Savage.

From The Daily Beast

In a 2009 profile of the right-wing firebrand, The New Yorker called Savage “a heretic among heretics.”

From The Daily Beast

In the midst of the Michael Savage drama, the Talk Radio Network empire entered into another major lawsuit.

From The Daily Beast

Savage noted that “HIV/AIDS forced us to start talking about what people are doing in bed.”

From The Daily Beast

Under so many savage blows, the labouring mountains brought forth Turks.

From Project Gutenberg

It makes out of the savage raw material which is our basal mental stuff, a citizen.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet a child coming under the humanising influences of culture soon gets far away from the level of the savage.

From Project Gutenberg

A primitive savage makes a bow and arrow in a day: it takes him a fortnight to make a bark canoe.

From Project Gutenberg

Savage troopers urged their horses into the water and slashed cowering women with their sabers.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• atrocious
• barbarous
• bloody
• brutal
• cold-blooded
• destructive
• ferocious
• fierce
• harsh
• inhuman
• inhumane
• merciless
• murderous
• relentless
• ruthless
• sadistic
• unrelenting
• violent