ferocious
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Ferocious \Fe*ro"cious\, a. [L. ferox, -ocis, fierce: cf. F.
f['e]roce. See {Ferocity}.]
Fierce; savage; wild; indicating cruelty; ravenous;
rapacious; as, ferocious look or features; a ferocious lion.
[1913 Webster]
The humbled power of a ferocious enemy. --Lowth.
Syn: {Ferocious}, {Fierce}, {Savage}, {Barbarous}.
Usage: When these words are applied to human feelings or
conduct, ferocious describes the disposition; fierce,
the haste and violence of an act; barbarous, the
coarseness and brutality by which it was marked;
savage, the cruel and unfeeling spirit which it
showed. A man is ferocious in his temper, fierce in
his actions, barbarous in the manner of carrying out
his purposes, savage in the spirit and feelings
expressed in his words or deeds. -- {Fe*ro"cious*ly},
adv. -- {Fe*ro"cious*ness}, n.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
148 Moby Thesaurus words for "ferocious":
Draconian, Tartarean, abandoned, aggressive, amok, animal,
antagonistic, anthropophagous, atrocious, barbaric, barbarous,
battling, beastly, bellicose, belligerent, bellowing, berserk,
bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized,
brute, brutish, cannibalistic, carried away, chauvinist,
chauvinistic, combative, contentious, cruel, cruel-hearted,
delirious, demoniac, demoniacal, destructive, devilish, diabolic,
diabolical, distracted, ecstatic, enemy, enraptured, fell, feral,
ferine, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, fighting, frantic, frenzied,
full of fight, fulminating, furious, grim, haggard, hawkish,
hellish, hog-wild, hostile, howling, hysterical, implacable,
in a transport, in hysterics, infernal, inhuman, inhumane,
inimical, intoxicated, jingo, jingoish, jingoist, jingoistic,
kill-crazy, mad, madding, malign, malignant, maniac, martial,
merciless, militant, militaristic, military, monstrous, murderous,
noncivilized, offensive, orgasmic, orgiastic, pitiless, possessed,
predatory, pugnacious, quarrelsome, rabid, raging, ramping,
ranting, rapacious, ravening, ravenous, raving, ravished,
relentless, roaring, running mad, ruthless, saber-rattling,
sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, scrappy,
sharkish, slavering, soldierlike, soldierly, storming, subhuman,
tameless, transported, trigger-happy, truculent, unchristian,
uncivilized, uncontrollable, unfriendly, ungentle, unhuman,
unpacific, unpeaceable, unpeaceful, untamed, vicious, violent,
voracious, warlike, warmongering, warring, wild, wild-eyed,
wild-looking, wolfish
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