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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

savage.

Wild; not cultivated or tamed.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈsavɪd͡ʒ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈsævəd͡ʒ/Australia/ˈsɛvəd͡ʒ/New-Zealand

  1. Wild; not cultivated or tamed.

    a savage wilderness
    a savage forest

  2. Barbaric; not civilized.

    savage manners

  3. Primitive; lacking complexity or sophistication.

  4. Fierce and ferocious.

    savage beasts
    a savage spirit

  5. Brutal, vicious, or merciless.

    He gave the dog a savage kick.
    The woman was killed in a savage manner.

  6. Of an insult or person: disrespectful, audacious, and either blunt or sarcastic, in a hilarious way.

    slang
    Wow, that was a savage burn. Absolutely no chill.

  7. Unpleasant or unfair.

    UK · slang
    – I'll see you in detention. – Ah, savage!

  8. Great, brilliant, amazing.

    Ireland · US · slang

  9. Severe, rude, aggressive.

    US · slang
    – They were so savage to them!
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈsavɪd͡ʒ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈsævəd͡ʒ/Australia/ˈsɛvəd͡ʒ/New-Zealand

  1. 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.

    derogatory · historical

  2. An aggressively defiant person.

    figuratively
    Their kids are little savages! One of them bit me the other day.

  3. Someone who speaks in an audacious, hilarious, and often sarcastic manner.

    slang

  4. A wild and ferocious beast.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈsavɪd͡ʒ/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/ˈsævəd͡ʒ/Australia/ˈsɛvəd͡ʒ/New-Zealand

  1. To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.

    transitive
    No matter how anyone might savage me, I should stay strong.

  2. To criticise vehemently.

    figuratively · transitive
    His latest film was savaged by most reviewers.

  3. To attack with the teeth.

    transitive

  4. To make savage.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.