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savages 1 of 2

noun

plural of savage
1
as in brutes
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person what kind of savage would hurt a baby?

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barbarians
an uncivilized person inhabitants of exotic lands were invariably portrayed by early travel writers as savages

Synonyms & Similar Words

savages

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of savage
as in attacks
to criticize harshly and usually publicly book reviewers mercilessly savaged his latest novel

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of savages
Noun
And potentially discover treasure that will keep the savages at home from tearing the place down. — Barry Collins, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026 Or a group of shipwrecked boys turning into savages and killing one another? — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026 The Indians in Westerns had war paint and whooped like savages. — Literary Hub, 28 May 2026 Smoothbrain libs and savages can KMA. — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 18 May 2026 This notion was based on outdated presumptions of hillforts as being occupied by violent, prehistoric savages. — News Desk, Artforum, 10 Apr. 2026 Or Irish, in a time when they were seen as savages by the Englishmen? — Arushi Jacob, Variety, 13 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for savages
  1. brutes
  2. barbarians
  3. attacks
  4. villains
  5. scolds
  6. monsters
  7. abuses
  8. criminals
Noun
  • These brutes commonly exceed 50 pounds.
    — Keith Sutton, Outdoor Life, 18 June 2026
  • In Raspail’s tale, hordes of impoverished and dark-​skinned brutes from India descend onto French shores by way of rafts, the first wave of an invasion of the civilized West by the brown-​skinned developing world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 Apr. 2026
Definition of brutes
Noun
  • If OpenAI’s agents are Romans, humanity represents the barbarians.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Such mutinous talk only heightened conservative Justices’ sense that the barbarians were storming the gate.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of barbarians
Verb
  • Here, Rashford attacks the space behind Guehi, with Cunha positioning himself between the lines to complement the run which should stretch the defensive line, but Martinez doesn’t play the ball to either of them.
    — Ahmed Walid, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Ronald agrees to a quote that attacks Cooper for allowing violent criminals a second chance, when his son wouldn’t get one.
    — Danielle Battaglia, Charlotte Observer, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of attacks
Noun
  • There are no villains in Possible Love; there are only people who are aware of others, and people who are not.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2026
  • The Braves have the edge, but the Phillies are always wily little villains.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of villains
Verb
  • Some intergenerational sparring ensues, as Kevin scolds Arthur for his more outré boomer comments, and Arthur in turn sneers at his grandson’s millennial lameness.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 19 Aug. 2026
  • The audience screams in response, and Scovel scolds them again but this time with a smile.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of scolds
Noun
  • Their first game was Crawl, a dungeon-crawler game where your friends control the monsters.
    — Justin Kroll, Deadline, 2 Sep. 2026
  • There will be no B-movie monsters wearing terrible prosthetics, no scripts full of non sequiturs, no glitchy graphics.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of monsters
Verb
  • Detectives will continue investigating these cases aggressively, and anyone who abuses their position with a child will be held accountable.
    — Brittany Miller, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • New York City’s child welfare agency routinely abuses its emergency power to take children from their parents without a court order, creating lifelong consequences for families, a new class-action lawsuit seeking to end the practice alleged Thursday.
    — Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 28 May 2026
Definition of abuses
Noun
  • Operating system and browser updates regularly fix vulnerabilities that criminals may try to exploit.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Most crimes across Mexico went unsolved, and authorities sometimes appeared to be colluding with criminals instead of fighting them.
    — Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of criminals

Browse Nearby Words

savagery
savages
savaging
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Cite this Entry

“Savages.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/savages. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

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