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What is the difference between savage and wild?

savage | wild |

As adjectives the difference between savage and wild

is that savage is wild; not cultivated while wild is untamed; not domesticated.

As nouns the difference between savage and wild

is that savage is an uncivilized or feral human; a barbarian while wild is the undomesticated state of a wild animal.

As verbs the difference between savage and wild

is that savage is to attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint while wild is to commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.

As proper nouns the difference between savage and wild

is that savage is {{surname|lang=en} while Wild is {{surname|from=Middle English}} for a wild person, or for someone living in uncultivated land.

As an adverb wild is

inaccurately; not on target.

savage

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • wild; not cultivated
    • a savage wilderness
  • * Dryden
    • savage berries of the wood
  • barbaric; not civilized
    • savage manners
  • * 1719-
    • I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and a circle dug in the earth, like a cockpit, where I supposed the savage wretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies of their fellow-creatures.
  • * E. D. Griffin
    • What nation, since the commencement of the Christian era, ever rose from savage to civilized without Christianity?
  • fierce and ferocious
    • savage beasts
    a savage spirit
  • brutal, vicious or merciless
    • He gave the dog a savage kick.
    The woman was killed in a savage manner.
  • (UK, slang) unpleasant or unfair
    • - I'll see you in detention.
    - Ah, savage !

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (pejorative) An uncivilized or feral human; a barbarian.
  • * 1847 , , Tancred: or The New Crusade , page 251
    • 'Well, my lord, I don't know,' said Freeman with a sort of jolly sneer; 'we have been dining with the savages'.'
    'They are not '     savages     , Freeman.'
    'Well, my lord, they have not much more clothes, anyhow; and as for knives and forks, there is not such a thing known.'
  • (figuratively) A defiant person.

    • Verb

    (transitive)
  • To attack or assault someone or something ferociously or without restraint.
  • (figuratively) To criticise vehemently.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Lexington
    • , title= Keeping the mighty honest , passage=British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.}}
  • (of an animal) To attack with the teeth.
  • (obsolete) To make savage.
  • * South
    • Its bloodhounds, savaged by a cross of wolf.

    Anagrams

    *

    wild

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Untamed; not domesticated.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
  • * Milton
    • The woods and desert caves, / With wild thyme and gadding vine o'ergrown.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
    • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • (senseid) Unrestrained or uninhibited.
  • Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
  • Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=August 7, author=Chris Bevan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Man City 2-3 Man Utd , passage=City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.}}
  • Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
  • Enthusiastic.
  • Inaccurate.
  • Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
    • a wild roadstead
  • (nautical) Hard to steer; said of a vessel.
  • (mathematics, of a knot) Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

    • Antonyms

    * (mathematics) tame

    Derived terms

    * in the wild * walk on the wild side * wild allspice * wild and woolly * wild animal * wild balsam apple * wild basil * wild blueberry * wild boar * wild bugloss * wild camomile * wild card * wildcard * wildcarrot * wild cat * wildcat * wildcat strike * wildcatter * wild celery * wild cherry * wild child * wildcrafting * wild cumin * wild drake * wildebeest * wild elder * wilden * wilder * wilderness * wildest * wild-eyed * wildfire * wildflower * wildfowl * wild geranium * wild ginger * wild goose * wild goose chase * wild-goose chase * wild hyacinth * wilding * wild Irishman * wildish * wild land * wild licorice * wildlife * wildly * wild mammee * wild marjoram * wild mustard * wildness * wild oat * wild pieplant * wild pigeon * wild pink * wild pitch * wild plantain * wild plum * wild purslane * wild rice * wild rye * wild Spaniard * wild strawberry * wildstyle * wild turkey * wild vanilla * Wild West * wildwood

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Inaccurately; not on target.
    • The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The undomesticated state of a wild animal
    • After mending the lion's leg, we returned him to the wild
  • (chiefly, in the plural) a wilderness
  • * 1730–1774 , Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
    • Thus every good his native wilds impart
    Imprints the patriot passion on his heart;
    And e’en those ills that round his mansion rise
    Enhance the bliss his scanty funds supplies.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
  • * 1989 , David E. Pitt, Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours , New York Times (April 22, 1989), page 1:
  • *:: ...Chief of Detectives Robert Colangelo, who said the attacks appeared unrelated to money, race, drugs, or alcohol, said that some of the 20 youths brought in for questioning has told investigators that the crime spree was the product of a pastime called "wilding".
  • *:: "It's not a term that we in the police had heard before," the chief said, noting that the police were unaware of any similar incident in the park recently. "They just said, 'We were going wilding.' In my mind at this point, it implies that they were going to raise hell."...

    • Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----