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Glite Dictionary
😈 A cruel person 🪶 A primitive person 🐯 Fierce or cruel 🌴 Uncivilized 💥 To attack violently 🔥 Brutally honest
to savage

to savage

16 6.8
To attack someone violently or criticize them very harshly
  • verb
  • /ˈsævɪdʒ/
  • NSFW
translation icon : atacar
  • He savaged his opponent's argument during the debate, pointing out several flaws and inconsistencies.
  • savaged by critics
  • get savaged
  • savaged by the press

Twitter enables gossip, reputation, savaging and innuendo unconstrained.

Examples

  • The popular press savaged Yeltsin for statements such as this.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Emigration, increasing pauperization, and undercapitalization of industry savaged the social landscape.

    Academic text (1990)

  • I'm going to savage this right now.

    Lay the Favorite (2012)

  • We savage them.

    National Champions (2021)

  • No group in the electorate is having their future savaged worse by Obama than the younger generations.

    Blog text (29)

  • The true story of our Christian heritage has been savaged by the secular religionists of the 20th century.

    Blog text (23)

  • Whatever the merits of particular proposals, as an overarching framework, the green economy has been widely savaged by green activists.

    Academic text (2012)

  • She's a sort of guerrilla in her own shifting frontier, raiding, savaging, not bothering with a flag.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The film was savaged by critics who found the plot to be both predictable and dull.

  • After the scandal broke, the politician was savaged by journalists during the press conference.

Synonyms

to trash
vsto savage
  • Offensive
70 5.8

To say very bad things about someone or something

can mean violent physical attack or very harsh but not unfair criticism
to blast
vsto savage
  • Literature
61 5.3

To strongly criticize someone in public

can be violent as well as verbally severe, not only public criticism
to crucify
vsto savage
  • NSFW
32 8.0

To criticize someone or something very harshly, often in public

can mean physical violence as well as severe public criticism
to assault
vsto savage
29 5.8

To attack someone strongly in speech or writing

also covers literal violent attacks as well as harsh verbal attacks
to revile
vsto savage
  • Offensive
23 8.2

To say angry, insulting things about someone or something

also covers physical violence and very severe nonverbal attacks
to assail
vsto savage
  • Formal
16 8.0

To attack violently, upset someone deeply or criticize them strongly

also includes violent action or very harsh criticism beyond force alone
to pillory
vsto savage
7 9.3

To criticize someone publicly to make them feel ashamed

can be physical violence or private harsh attack beyond public shame
to throw brickbats
vsto savage
  • Literature
8.9

Attack someone with strong words in public

may include physical violence or private harshness beyond public attacks
to read to filth
vsto savage
  • Offensive
9.9

Strongly insult someone in front of others to embarrass them

is broader, also meaning a violent or very harsh physical attack

Antonyms

to defend
∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

praise
161 1.0

Words or actions that show admiration for someone

Compounds

savage humor
7.9

Harsh, honest jokes that hurt or shock people

How Violent

to maul
  • NSFW
29 7.2
to savage
  • NSFW
16 6.8
to assail
  • Formal
16 8.0
attack
548 3.2
to criticize
701 3.3

Surface Forms

savage infinitive
savaged past
savaged past participle
savagely present participle
savages third person singular

Etymology

Savage as a verb comes from Old French sauvage, from the Latin silva meaning 'wood' or 'forest'. To 'savage' someone is like a wild animal from the woods attacking or destroying, which helps explain the modern meaning to attack or criticize very harshly.