savage

SAV-ij/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/

Noun pluralsavages

17 meanings of savage

1
adjective
Brutal, vicious, or merciless, marked by extreme cruelty or violence.
The dictator ordered a savage crackdown on the protesters.
Historians describe the battle as one of the most savage of the war.
Similarbrutal, vicious, merciless, ruthless, cruel
Oppositemerciful, humane, lenient
2
adjective
Fierce and ferocious in temperament or force.
A savage gust tore the sail from the mast.
The wounded bear grew more savage as the hunters closed in.
Similarfierce, ferocious, violent, vicious, furious
Oppositegentle, mild, tame
Note
Here the wildness has become temper: savage beasts, a savage spirit. William Congreve's The Mourning Bride (1697) has the line "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast". The word is breast, the seat of feeling, not beast. Reach for this sense for ferocity of nature or mood. For deliberate cruelty, the "brutal" meaning fits better.
3
adjectiveslang
Of an insult or person, boldly disrespectful in a blunt or sarcastic way that makes people laugh.
The comedian's savage takedown of the senator went viral within hours.
Nobody in the group chat escapes her savage one-liners.
Similarbrutal, scathing, cutting, withering, biting
Note
Slang that turns the word's violence into applause. A savage burn is an insult so bold and well aimed that onlookers laugh rather than wince: "absolutely no chill." It stretches beyond words to any audacious move. In 2018 The Washington Post called a deke so savage that it earned a name. Absolutely savage is the usual intensified form, and the speaker is admiring, not accusing.
4
adjective
Wild and untamed; in a natural state, neither cultivated nor domesticated.
After decades of neglect, the orchard had gone completely savage.
Wolves remain savage even when raised in captivity from birth.
Similarwild, untamed, feral, undomesticated
Oppositetame, domesticated, cultivated
Note
The oldest picture in the word is a forest. Through Old French sauvage it goes back to Latin silvāticus, "of the woods", from silva, and sylvatic is its learned doublet. Here it still describes land and nature rather than people: Edgar Rice Burroughs's "savage shore" in The Return of Tarzan (1913), and Stan Rogers's untamed land in "Northwest Passage" (1981).
5
adjective
Barbaric and uncivilized; lacking the customs, restraints, or order of civilized society.
Cut off from rescue, the crew slid from discipline into savage disorder.
Nineteenth-century novels often cast frontier life as savage and lawless.
Similarbarbaric, uncivilized, barbarous, lawless, primitive
Oppositecivilized
Note
Older writers used it as the opposite of civilized. Edward D. Griffin's 1826 sermon asks what nation ever "arose from savage to civilized", treating the word as a rung on a ladder of progress. Defoe in 1719 and Rider Haggard's She apply it to peoples in the same spirit. Said of people, it shares the derogatory weight of the noun for a "barbarian". Said of conduct or disorder, it is safer.
6
verbtransitive
To attack someone or something fiercely and without holding back.
The mob savaged the referee before security could reach the pitch.
Keepers warn that the chimp can savage anyone who enters its enclosure.
Similarattack, maul, assault
7
verbfigurativelytransitive
To criticize someone or something vehemently.
The committee's report savaged the agency's handling of the crisis.
Critics are expected to savage the sequel when it opens next week.
Similarpan, slam, lambaste, criticize, excoriate
Oppositepraise, acclaim, laud
Note
A verb at home in reviews and journalism. It sits naturally in the passive, as when a film "was savaged by most reviewers." In 2013 The Economist wrote of British journalists' duty to "savage the mighty." The figure keeps the violence of the physical attack. Savaging is harsher than criticizing, and it implies the target has been torn apart.
8
adjectiveslangIrelandUS
Outstandingly great, brilliant, or amazing.
The band's encore was absolutely savage, and the crowd refused to leave.
She landed a savage triple jump that brought the judges to their feet.
Similaramazing, brilliant, awesome, incredible, epic
Oppositeawful, terrible
Note
Praise in Irish and US slang, where a hostile adjective is flipped into an approving one. Its spelling and grammar are identical to the word's violent senses, so only context tells a listener that a savage gig or a savage goal is being celebrated. When writing for a wide audience, make the approval obvious from the surrounding words.
9
adjective
Primitive in form or method; lacking complexity, refinement, or sophistication.
Early surgical instruments look savage beside their modern counterparts.
The old forge relied on a savage process of hammer and open flame.
Similarprimitive, crude, rudimentary, rough
Oppositesophisticated, refined, advanced
10
nounfigurativelycountable
A person who is aggressively defiant, pushing back hard and refusing to be controlled.
Negotiators warned the board that the union rep was a savage who would not blink first.
She crossed the finish line bleeding and grinning, a savage to the very end.
Similarwarrior, beast
Oppositepushover, doormat

11
nounderogatoryhistoricalcountable
A person regarded as primitive or living outside civilization; a barbarian. Now offensive.
Colonial reports dismissed the local people as savages while depending on their knowledge to survive.
The glimpse of the steamboat had for some reason filled those savages with unrestrained grief.
1899, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”
Similarbarbarian
Note
A word that outsiders used for other peoples and that is now an insult. Disraeli's Tancred (1847) already stages the dispute, when one character objects, "They are not savages." Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) and "Horses in time of War" (1901), on fighting with the Utes, use it as a flat label. Keep it to historical discussion. For actual peoples, use their own names or a neutral term such as Indigenous peoples.
12
nounslangcountable
Someone who talks in a bold, very funny, and often sarcastic or cutting way.
Her acceptance speech roasted half the room; the woman is a savage.
He answered the troll with one line and logged off. An absolute savage.
Note
The person behind the admiring "audacious" adjective: someone whose replies are bold, cutting and funny. It usually comes intensified as an absolute savage, and it lives online. In 2022 Liv Pearsall titled a TikTok video "7 Times Elmo Was an Absolute Savage." Calling a friend this is a compliment, quite unlike the derogatory "barbarian" noun.
13
verbtransitive
To attack with the teeth, as an animal biting and mauling a victim.
Stray dogs sometimes savage livestock that wanders too close to the village.
The lion savaged its handler during the evening show, and the act was canceled.
Similarmaul, bite, attack, worry
14
adjectiveslangUS
Severe, rude, or aggressive, especially of remarks, criticism, or behavior.
The coach gave a savage assessment of the team's defense after the loss.
His takedown of the proposal was so savage that nobody at the table tried to defend it.
Similarscathing, harsh, brutal, withering, blistering
Oppositemild, gentle, glowing
Note
American slang for harshness without the humor. It often takes to and a person, as in "They were so savage to them!", to describe treatment that is rude or aggressive. It sits close to the admiring "audacious" sense, and tone is what separates them. There the bluntness is funny and applauded. Here it is simply severe, and sympathy lies with the target.
15
adjectiveslangUK
Unpleasant or unfair, especially in a way that feels harsh or undeserved.
Making us resit the whole exam over one missing signature is savage.
He got dropped from the squad by text message. Absolutely savage.
Similarharsh, brutal, unfair, rough, cruel
Oppositefair, lenient
Note
British slang for a raw deal, usually said as a quick reaction. Told "I'll see you in detention," the victim answers "Ah, savage!" Nobody is being accused of cruelty. The speaker is complaining about, or sympathizing with, bad luck or an unfair ruling. Unlike the admiring "audacious" sense, it carries no laugh at anyone's wit, only a groan.
16
nounobsolete
A wild and ferocious beast.
The chronicle tells how the hunters cornered the savage in its den beneath the crag.
The torch-eyed ſavage, with growl tremendous, riſing up, diſlocated at one blow the arched neck of Sadit's Arabian ſteed, and brought the unfortunate omrah to the duſt, expiring between his extended claws.
1769, Firishta, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi
Note
A beast-noun that English has let go. Alexander Dow's 1769 translation of Inatulla's Persian tales has a "torch-eyed savage" that rises with a growl and breaks a horse's neck. It is plainly an animal, not a person. Modern readers take the noun to mean a person, so when you meet it in older prose, check whether claws are involved.
17
verbobsoletetransitive
To make wild, ferocious, or brutal.
Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf.
1692, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions
Note
An obsolete causative that means to make something savage rather than to attack it. Robert South's sermons describe bloodhounds "savaged by a cross of wolf," made fiercer by breeding, not mauled. The past participle looks exactly like the modern verb's. In older prose, read savaged by as "made wild by" when the cause is a quality or a bloodline rather than an attacker.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English savage, from Old French sauvage 'wild, untamed', from Late Latin salvaticus, an alteration of Latin silvaticus 'wild', literally 'of the woods', from silva 'forest, grove'. It is a doublet of sylvatic.