noble savage

British  

noun

1. (in romanticism) an idealized view of primitive man

---

noble savage Cultural  

1. Someone who belongs to an “uncivilized” group or tribe and is considered to be, consequently, more worthy than people who live within civilization. Many writers and thinkers through the centuries of Western civilization have believed in the noble savage. The expression is particularly associated with Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

noble savage

His character avoids conventions of the so-called noble savage; Eli’s internal conflict pits his loyalty to his heritage against his history in the U.S.

From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2022

These scientists have replaced the myth of the noble savage with the myth of the savage savage.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 23, 2017

But she’s most famous for The Piano, featuring Hunter as a mute woman who expresses herself only through music and Harvey Keitel as a noble savage.

From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2013

Historians and film critics argue over whether or not The New World ends up perpetrating the idea of the noble savage itself.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 9, 2012

But then oxen and gulls are not, so far as we know, troubled with any spiritual parts at all, and in the noble savage such things are not cultivated.

From Beatrice by Haggard, Henry Rider