Throughout the fifties, in city after city, fluoridation became the subject of fierce debate.
They had also come “to remind America of the fierce urgency of now.”
I so loved the fierce bodily contact of football that I suppose my enthusiasm made up somewhat for my lack of size.
Their bodies would be discovered more than a month after they died, after fierce fighting in the African nation subsided.
In the midst of that fierce winter, Anna fell ill, developing a nasty, lingering cough.
This unexpected opposition excited the fierce resentment of the captain.
Afterward his uncle came in a fierce humor, slamming the door.
When a woman loves a fierce man she takes the risk of his fierceness.
She could be fierce and wicked; she is ignorant and bitter about many things; I am afraid for her.
The voice, too, when he spoke, was as deep and as fierce as the growl of a beast of prey.
mid-13c., "proud, noble, bold," from Old French fers, nominative form of fer, fier "strong, overwhelming, violent, fierce, wild; proud, mighty, great, impressive" (Modern French fier "proud, haughty"), from Latin ferus "wild, untamed," from PIE root *ghwer- "wild, wild animal" (cf. Greek ther, Old Church Slavonic zveri, Lithuanian zveris "wild beast").
Original English sense of "brave, proud" died out 16c., but caused the word at first to be commonly used as an epithet, which accounts for the rare instance of a French word entering English in the nominative case. Meaning "ferocious, wild, savage" is from c.1300. Related: Fiercely; fierceness.
