- 1aggressive and violent; causing great harm synonym brutal savage dogs She had been badly hurt in what police described as “a savage attack.” savage public spending cuts
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- 2involving very strong criticism The article was a savage attack on the government's record.
- 3[only before noun] (old-fashioned) an offensive way of referring to groups of people or customs that are considered to be simple and not highly developed synonym primitive a savage tribe
adverb savagely attacked/criticized “No!” he snarled savagely.See savage in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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