Sav″age (?; 48), a. [F. sauvage, OF. salvage, fr. L. silvaticus belonging to a wood, wild, fr. silva a wood. See Silvan, and cf. Sylvatic.] 1. Of or pertaining to the forest; remote from human abodes and cultivation; in a state of nature; wild; as, a savage wilderness.
2. Wild; untamed; uncultivated; as, savage beasts.
Cornels, and savage berries of the wood. Dryden.
3. Uncivilized; untaught; unpolished; rude; as, savage life; savage manners.
What nation, since the commencement of the Christian era, ever rose from savage to civilized without Christianity? E. D. Griffin.
4. Characterized by cruelty; barbarous; fierce; ferocious; inhuman; brutal; as, a savage spirit.
Syn. — Ferocious; wild; uncultivated; untamed; untaught; uncivilized; unpolished; rude; brutish; brutal; heathenish; barbarous; cruel; inhuman; fierce; pitiless; merciless; unmerciful; atrocious. See Ferocious.