Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - savage

(savages, savaging, savaged) 1. Someone or something that is savage is extremely cruel, violent, and uncontrolled. This was a savage attack on a defenceless young girl. ...a savage dog lunging at the end of a chain. = vicious ADJ • savagely He was savagely beaten. ADV 2. If you refer to people as savages, you dislike them because you think that they do not have an advanced society and are violent. ...their conviction that the area was a frozen desert peopled with uncouth savages. N-COUNT: usu pl c darkgreen]disapproval 3. If someone is savaged by a dog or other animal, the animal attacks them violently. The animal then turned on him and he was savaged to death. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed 4. If someone or something that they have done is savaged by another person, that person criticizes them severely. The show had already been savaged by critics... Speakers called for clearer direction and savaged the Chancellor. VERB: be V-ed, V n