noble savage

British  

noun

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

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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.

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Example Sentences

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

Great characters included eerie religious crusader Kemp, tweeting vampire war tourist Ivan, noble savage McNair, flipchart-wielding bloodsucker Cutler, Mark Gatiss's scenery-chewing vampire leader Mr Snow – or this year's on-the-edge civil servant Mr Rook.

From The Guardian • Mar. 8, 2013

Here “You are as free as when God first made man, Ere the vile laws of servitude began, And wild in woods the noble savage ran.”

From Wanderings in South America by Waterton, Charles