ferocious

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Extremely fierce, violent, or aggressive.

   Grammar: Gradable: you can say more ferocious, most ferocious, or very ferocious.

   Patterns

   • a ferocious animal
   • ferocious attack
   • ferocious in something

   The ferocious dog scared away the burglars.

   A ferocious storm hit the coast last night.

   The tiger is a ferocious predator.

2. 2adjectivecomparable

   Very strong, intense, or determined.

   Grammar: Often used to describe abstract things like appetite, competition, or loyalty.

   Patterns

   • ferocious appetite
   • ferocious competition
   • ferocious loyalty

   She has a ferocious appetite for learning.

   The two teams are in ferocious competition for the title.

Word forms

Common combinations

ferocious attack

The army launched a ferocious attack at dawn.

ferocious storm

The ferocious storm uprooted trees and knocked out power.

ferocious appetite

After the hike, he had a ferocious appetite.

ferocious competition

There is ferocious competition for places at top universities.

Synonyms and how they differ

fierce

Fierce is very similar but can also mean 'very strong' in a positive way, as in fierce loyalty.

savage

Savage is stronger and often suggests wild, uncontrolled violence; ferocious can be used for intense but not necessarily violent things.

vicious

Vicious means cruel and deliberately harmful; ferocious focuses on fierceness and intensity.

Opposites

Word family

ferocity noun

The quality of being ferocious.

ferociously adverb

In a ferocious manner.

Commonly confused: ferocious or ferrous?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “ferocious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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