savage means wild; not cultivated or tamed. It carries an Arena rating of 1426, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, savage ranks #584 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words, #1,003 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #3,549 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #3,914 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
savage is pronounced /ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/.
Why “savage” is a great word
Fierce, violent, and untamed by the laws or customs of civil society, often implying a brutal ferocity. From Middle English 'savage', from Old French 'sauvage, salvage' ("wild, untamed"), from Late Latin 'salvāticus', an alteration of Latin 'silvāticus' ("wild", literally "of the woods"), from 'silva' ("forest, grove"). Unlike "barbaric," which emphasizes a total absence of civilizing restraint and extreme cruelty, or "primitive," which neutrally describes an early stage of development, "savage" carries the dark perfume of the deep woods into the human heart. It is the wolf that has never known the fence, the crack of bone in a forgotten glade, the raw scream that precedes all language and therefore all law—the persistent, green memory of the wilderness we once were and fear we still carry.
Etymology
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.
adj
- Wild; not cultivated or tamed.e.g.“a savage wilderness”
- Barbaric; not civilized.e.g.“savage manners”
- Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.
- Fierce and ferocious.e.g.“savage beasts”
- Brutal, vicious, or merciless.e.g.“He gave the dog a savage kick.”
- Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way.e.g.“Wow, that was a savage burn. Absolutely no chill.”
- Unpleasant or unfair.e.g.“– I'll see you in detention.
– Ah, savage!”
- Great, brilliant, amazing.
- Severe, rude, aggressive.e.g.“– They were so savage to them!”
name
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland.
- A suburban city in Scott County, Minnesota; a suburb of Minneapolis.
- An unincorporated community in Tate County, Mississippi.
- An unincorporated community in Richland County, Montana.
noun
- A member of a traditional, nonindustrialised society or indigenous tribe or other group, typically living closely with nature outside of the infrastructure of urbanized civilization.
- An aggressively defiant person.e.g.“Their kids are little savages! One of them bit me the other day.”
- Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.e.g.“It was on Dec. 29 that TikTok star Liv Pearsall posted a video titled "7 Times Elmo Was an Absolute Savage," in which the star with more than 2.7 million followers lip-synced to various Elmo-ments.” — 2022 January 6, Kalhan Rosenblatt, “Elmo's feud with a pet rock has consumed the internet”, in NBC News, archived from the original on 29 May 2023:
- A wild and ferocious beast.
verb
- To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.e.g.“No matter how anyone might savage me, I should stay strong.”
- To criticise vehemently.e.g.“His latest film was savaged by most reviewers.”
- To attack with the teeth.
- To make savage.e.g.“Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf.” — 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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