Entry Word: ferocious

Function: adjective

Meaning: 1 extreme in degree, power, or effect <the ferocious appetite that athletic teenagers have been known to display> — see intense
2 marked by bursts of destructive force or intense activity <ferocious forest fires threatened to destroy hundreds of homes in the scrubland> — see violent 1
3 violently unfriendly or aggressive in disposition <Captain Bligh and his castaways bypassed numerous Pacific islands, so afraid were they of the ferocious tribesmen> — see fierce 1