| English Dictionary |
SAVAGE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does savage mean?
• SAVAGE (noun)
The noun SAVAGE has 2 senses:
1. a member of an uncivilized people
2. a cruelly rapacious person
Familiarity information: SAVAGE used as a noun is rare.
• SAVAGE (adjective)
The adjective SAVAGE has 4 senses:
1. (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
2. wild and menacing
3. without civilizing influences
4. marked by extreme and violent energy
Familiarity information: SAVAGE used as an adjective is uncommon.
• SAVAGE (verb)
The verb SAVAGE has 2 senses:
1. attack brutally and fiercely
2. criticize harshly or violently
Familiarity information: SAVAGE used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A member of an uncivilized people
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
barbarian; savage
Hypernyms ("savage" is a kind of...):
primitive; primitive person (a person who belongs to an early stage of civilization)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "savage"):
anthropophagite; anthropophagus; cannibal; man-eater (a person who eats human flesh)
head-shrinker; headhunter (a savage who cuts off and preserves the heads of enemies as trophies)
hunter-gatherer (a member of a hunting and gathering society)
Vandal (a member of the Germanic people who overran Gaul and Spain and North Africa and sacked Rome in 455)
Instance hyponyms:
Odoacer; Odovacar; Odovakar (Germanic barbarian leader who ended the Western Roman Empire in 476 and became the first barbarian ruler of Italy (434-493))
Derivation:
savage (without civilizing influences)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A cruelly rapacious person
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
beast; brute; savage; wildcat; wolf
Hypernyms ("savage" is a kind of...):
aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)
Derivation:
savage (attack brutally and fiercely)
savage ((of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
Synonyms:
barbarous; brutal; cruel; fell; roughshod; savage; vicious
Context example:
vicious kicks
Similar:
inhumane (lacking and reflecting lack of pity or compassion)
Derivation:
savage (a cruelly rapacious person)
savageness (the property of being untamed and ferocious)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Wild and menacing
Synonyms:
Context example:
a pack of feral dogs
Similar:
untamed; wild (in a natural state; not tamed or domesticated or cultivated)
Derivation:
savageness (the property of being untamed and ferocious)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Without civilizing influences
Synonyms:
barbarian; barbaric; savage; uncivilised; uncivilized; wild
Context example:
wild tribes
Similar:
noncivilised; noncivilized (not having a high state of culture and social development)
Derivation:
savage (a member of an uncivilized people)
savageness (the property of being untamed and ferocious)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Marked by extreme and violent energy
Synonyms:
ferocious; fierce; furious; savage
Context example:
a furious battle
Similar:
violent (acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity)
Derivation:
savageness (the property of being untamed and ferocious)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it savages Past simple: savaged
Past participle: savaged
-ing form: savaging
Sense 1
Meaning:
Attack brutally and fiercely
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
Hypernyms (to "savage" is one way to...):
assail; assault; attack; set on (attack someone physically or emotionally)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Derivation:
savage (a cruelly rapacious person)
savagery (a brutal barbarous savage act)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Criticize harshly or violently
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
blast; crucify; pillory; savage
Context example:
The critics crucified the author for plagiarizing a famous passage
Hypernyms (to "savage" is one way to...):
criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Context examples
He was in a savage temper, and, standing over six feet from the ground, was as formidable an antagonist as even Buck could desire.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The moment Mit-sah gave his order for the start, that moment the whole team, with eager, savage cries, sprang forward at White Fang.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
He was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but a European.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I have lived so long among savages and beyond the law, said he, that I have got into the way of being a law to myself.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Its long, savage mouth, which was held half-open, was full of a double row of shark-like teeth.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I get so savage, I could hurt anyone and enjoy it.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I opened my mouth to scream, but he struck me a savage blow with his fist over the eye, and felled me to the ground.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Martin and Cheese- Face were two savages, of the stone age, of the squatting place and the tree refuge.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Here all is softness and gentleness. Neither the human nor nature is savage. He will never know a whip-lash again. And as for the weather—why, it never snows here.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
"Deceit is not my fault!" I cried out in a savage, high voice.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
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