noble savage
noun
: a mythic conception of people belonging to non-European cultures as having innate natural simplicity and virtue uncorrupted by European civilization
also
: a person exemplifying this conception
Examples of noble savage in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The canonical work of Edward Curtis established the tragic view and elegiac rhetoric of Native people as noble savages unassimilable to Progress and hence destined for cultural, if not biological, extinction.
—
Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
The curtain was ornately embroidered with images of bears, onion domes, and noble savages untainted by logic.
—
Jennifer Wilson,
The New Yorker,
24 July 2023
Native Americans have long been depicted in Hollywood films and television projects as either bloodthirsty barbarians or noble savages.
—
Marlow Stern,
Rolling Stone,
9 June 2023
Rather the novel presents Tarzan as Rousseau’s unspoiled child of nature, a literally noble savage free from the vices and corruption associated with advanced industrial society.
—
Washington Post,
19 Aug. 2020
Whereas the book’s white characters are nuanced, Indian characters are reduced to dangerous adversaries or noble savages.
—
Elena Nicolaou,
refinery29.com,
24 Aug. 2019
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Literary Hub,
11 Sep. 2025
The curtain was ornately embroidered with images of bears, onion domes, and noble savages untainted by logic.
—
Jennifer Wilson,
The New Yorker,
24 July 2023
Native Americans have long been depicted in Hollywood films and television projects as either bloodthirsty barbarians or noble savages.
—
Marlow Stern,
Rolling Stone,
9 June 2023
Rather the novel presents Tarzan as Rousseau’s unspoiled child of nature, a literally noble savage free from the vices and corruption associated with advanced industrial society.
—
Washington Post,
19 Aug. 2020
Whereas the book’s white characters are nuanced, Indian characters are reduced to dangerous adversaries or noble savages.
—
Elena Nicolaou,
refinery29.com,
24 Aug. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Noble savage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noble%20savage. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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