savagery
Americannoun
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savageries
plural
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an uncivilized or barbaric state or condition; barbarity.
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savage action, nature, disposition, or behavior.
noun
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an uncivilized condition
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a savage act or nature
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savages collectively
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of savagery
Explanation
Savagery is fierce or brutal violence. The savagery of boxing is just too much for me — I prefer sports like rowing and badminton. When you think of savagery, extreme physical violence probably comes to mind. The savagery of war, brutal crackdowns by totalitarian governments, and vicious attacks are all good examples. There's also a figurative kind of savagery: "The restaurant critic's savagery felt like a personal attack on the chef." Savagery has a Latin source meaning "wild" or "of the woods," from a root that means "forest."
Vocabulary lists containing savagery
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Few if any of even Kim Jong-un’s looniest tirades match these posts for their wild-eyed savagery.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
As Simon Elliott describes in his biography “The African Emperor,” Severus was a mercurial and contradictory character, capable by turns of savagery, cunning, wit and generosity, and always blessed with a sense of the theatrical.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Both realize that the only way they’ll survive the world’s savagery is to take care of each other.
From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026
Zach Cregger’s viral horror hit winds its way methodically to a climax of such hilarious savagery that you’ll scare yourself with how hard you’re laughing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
“Peter,” she turned to her colleague with a trace of savagery, “what’s wrong here? What kind of robots are they using at Hyper Base?”
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
“Their professional dominance came in part from their command of the intimate daily savageries of the slave trade,” Rothman writes.
From Slate ● Apr. 19, 2021
Far beyond Syria, as well, many millions of people bear indelible memories of the conflict’s multifarious savageries, thanks to the numbing barrage of videos that have been posted on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 3, 2017
Eventually he old brutal arrangement was superseded by the laws of the tate, which undertook to end the freelance savageries of personal revenge by meting out justice uncomplicated by private passion.
From Time Magazine Archive
After victory we began by seeking to punish the Germans for Hitler's savageries and to help the British for having defended freedom's way for all people.
From Time Magazine Archive
Why do not such savageries occur in Switzerland?
From Some Answered Questions by `Abdu'l-Bahá
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
