savage

Meaning

Adj

1. Wild; not cultivated or tamed.
2. Barbaric; not civilized.
3. Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.
4. Fierce and ferocious.
5. Brutal, vicious, or merciless.
6. (slang) Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way.
7. (UK, slang) Unpleasant or unfair.
8. (Ireland, US, slang) Great, brilliant, amazing.
9. (US, slang) Severe, rude, aggressive.

Noun

1. (derogatory, historical) A person not living in a civilization; a barbarian.
2. (figuratively) An aggressively defiant person.
3. (slang) Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.
4. (obsolete) A wild and ferocious beast.

Verb

1. (transitive) To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To criticise vehemently.
3. (transitive) To attack with the teeth.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To make savage.

Synonyms

wild

cruel

barbarian

brutal

fierce

ferocious

barbarous

uncivilized

vicious

violent

barbaric

atrocious

furious

feral

brute

wild man

merciless

inhuman

untamed

ruthless

uncivilized person

harsh

angry

😠

wicked

brutality

uncivilised

rustic

primitive person

roughshod

cruel person

raging

primitive

aboriginal

crude

fell

ferine

terror

beast

thug

ruthlessness

truculent

absurd

raw

enemy

rude

maul

mercilessness

desolate

dangerous

pillory

Translations

sauvage

salvaje

selvaggio

wild

salvatge

άγριος

selvagem

barbare

crudele

woest

Wilder

féroce

wild

grausam

feroce

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: savage

In summary

From Middle English savage, from Old French sauvage, salvage (“wild, untamed”), from Late Latin salvāticus, alteration of Latin silvāticus (“wild”, literally “of the woods”), from silva (“forest; grove”). Doublet of sylvatic.