savage
adjective
fierce, ferocious, or cruel; untamed.
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savage
1 American
[sav-ij]
/ ˈsæv ɪdʒ /
adjective
-
fierce, ferocious, or cruel; untamed.
savage beasts.
- Synonyms:
- bloodthirsty, fell, feral, wild
- Antonyms:
- mild
-
Offensive. relating to or being a preliterate people or society regarded as uncivilized or primitive.
-
enraged or furiously angry, as a person.
-
unpolished; rude.
savage manners.
- Antonyms:
- cultured
-
wild or rugged, as country or scenery.
savage wilderness.
- Synonyms:
- uncultivated, rough
- Antonyms:
- cultivated
-
Archaic. uncultivated; growing wild.
noun
savages
plural
verb (used with object)
savages,
present (3rd person singular)
savaged,
past participle, past
savaging
present participle
-
to assault and maul by biting, rending, goring, etc.; tear at or mutilate.
numerous sheep savaged by dogs.
-
to attack or criticize thoroughly or remorselessly; excoriate.
a play savaged by the critics.
-
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
American
[sav-ij]
/ ˈsæv ɪdʒ /
noun
-
Michael Joseph, 1872–1940, New Zealand statesman and labor leader: prime minister 1935–40.
-
Richard, 1697?–1743, English poet.
savage
1
British
/ ˈsævɪdʒ /
adjective
-
wild; untamed
savage beasts of the jungle
-
ferocious in temper; vicious
a savage dog
-
uncivilized; crude
savage behaviour
-
(of peoples) nonliterate or primitive
a savage tribe
-
(of terrain) rugged and uncultivated
-
obsolete far from human habitation
noun
-
a member of a nonliterate society, esp one regarded as primitive
-
a crude or uncivilized person
-
a fierce or vicious person or animal
verb
-
to criticize violently
-
to attack ferociously and wound
the dog savaged the child
Savage
2
British
/ ˈsævɪdʒ /
noun
Synonym Usage
See cruel.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
savagedomnoun
-
savagenessnoun
-
unsavagenessnoun
-
half-savageadjective
-
presavageadjective
-
quasi-savageadjective
-
semisavageadjective
-
unsavageadjective
-
half-savagelyadverb
-
quasi-savagelyadverb
-
savagelyadverb
-
unsavagelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
savagesimple
-
savagessimple
-
have savagedperfect
-
has savagedperfect
-
am savagingprogressive
-
are savagingprogressive
-
is savagingprogressive
-
have been savagingperfect progressive
-
has been savagingperfect progressive
Past
-
savagedsimple
-
had savagedperfect
-
was savagingprogressive
-
were savagingprogressive
-
had been savagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of savage
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
Explanation
A polar bear in a zoo might look like an adorable giant stuffed animal, but if you met a hungry one in its native environment, it would seem more savage — wild and fierce — than cute. Describing an animal as savage means that it is true to its wild, ferocious nature, but if you describe a person or the actions of a person as savage, it means "cruel" or "brutal." A place can also be described as savage if it's untamed, uninhabitable, and unwelcoming. When savage takes the form of a noun, it means "a brutal person," and when it's a verb it means "to attack ferociously." Any way you use it, savage is uncivilized and violent.
Vocabulary lists containing savage
More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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"Mending Wall," by Robert Frost
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
This savage, amoral and unfeeling Robin Hood has been written to invert everything modern fans like about him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Lately, I’ve come to prefer Jackman as a showman over a savage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Ms. Gionfriddo writes tartly funny dialogue that stings and surprises, with tangy quips and savage retorts whizzing through the air, giving a buoyancy even to scenes that occasionally stretch past their necessary length.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
The incident led to the publication of a first dishevelled mugshot, a savage contrast to thousands of glorious pictures that had celebrated his status as an all-conquering champion.
From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026
Six years had passed since then: I was a wreck, but nought had changed in those savage and enduring scenes.
From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
At Tuesday’s Coastal Commission meeting, Jennifer Savage of the Surfrider Foundation stepped to the microphone and said to commissioners:
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Savage tells clients in a note that the telecommunications provider’s fiscal 2027 guidance is likely to be equally unremarkable relative to expectations, leaving its scope for buybacks as the key focus for investors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Da Savage says it feels "surreal" as she listened to Linkin Park growing up and all the attention means her song Innit is going to be released next week.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Lisa Savage, the Green-aligned independent candidate, earned 5 percent of the vote, and was instructing her supporters to rank Gideon second.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
“Yes, didn’t you hear me say so? Mr. Savage speaking.”
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grown-ups going to think?” cries Piggy, the book’s preteen standard-bearer for logic and civilization.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 17, 2026
"We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens – we're humans," he added from the stage after his win for best musicá urbana album.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
"We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens; we are humans and we are Americans," the singer said after being given the Grammy for Best Musica Urbana Album.
From Barron's ● Feb. 2, 2026
His uncompromising hostility toward revolutionaries inspired Thomas Paine to remark in 1776, “Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families.”
From National Geographic ● Jul. 3, 2023
Presently Ralph rose to his feet, looking at the place where the savages had vanished.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
After Anthony’s dog savaged another man’s hog—hogs being precious in New Netherland—the couple was banished in 1639 to Long Island, where the two started a new life on land the Dutch wished to colonize.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
England were savaged back home following the defeat on Saturday.
From Barron's ● Nov. 24, 2025
During his early career, Shepard savaged Vietnam-era conservatism, preferring the hippie vibe of the Bay Area to what he called the “sprawling, demented snake of L.A. to the south.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025
Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate a part of California that has been savaged by wildfire for a second day running.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2024
From the height of the tanker’s deck, Bright Sands Beach stretched into the distance, a tarred expanse of sand and puddled seawater, littered with the savaged bodies of other oil tankers and freighters.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Landau was aware of what constituted crowd appeal, but is too good-natured to savage many of the people along the way who perhaps deserve savaging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
Meanwhile, a federal judge has been savaging LAHSA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025
People would keep one eye on their bank accounts for missed deposits and the other on Wall Street, where concerns over the nation's creditworthiness could be savaging the value of people's life savings.
From Reuters ● May 23, 2023
Art critics delighted in savaging her work, generally deeming it kitschy and oversentimental.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022
Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
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.
