fierce

[feers] /fɪərs/
adjective, fiercer, fiercest.
1.
menacingly wild, savage, or hostile:
fierce animals; a fierce look.
2.
violent in force, intensity, etc.:
fierce winds.
3.
furiously eager or intense:
fierce competition.
4.
Informal. extremely bad or severe:
a fierce cold.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English fiers < Anglo-French fers, Old French fiers (nominative) < Latin ferus wild, fierce; cf. feral1, ferocious
Related forms
fiercely, adverb
fierceness, noun
overfierce, adjective
overfiercely, adverb
overfierceness, noun
unfierce, adjective
unfiercely, adjective
Synonyms
1. untamed; cruel, fell, brutal; barbarous, bloodthirsty, murderous. Fierce, ferocious, truculent suggest vehemence and violence of temper, manner, or action: fierce in repelling a foe. Ferocious implies fierceness or cruelty, especially of a bloodthirsty kind, in disposition or action: a ferocious glare; ferocious brutality toward helpless refugees. Truculent suggests an intimidating or bullying fierceness of manner or conduct: His truculent attitude kept them terrified and submissive. 2, 3. furious, passionate, turbulent.
Antonyms
1. tame, mild.
Examples from the web for fierce
  • Pandas will then become the fierce carnivores they should have always been.
  • Also the software for the blind needs to be updated something fierce.
  • Dozens of sculptures with fierce faces encircle the structure and dozens more are part of the structure itself.
  • The hunters screamed at each other, the seas heaved and the boats drifted toward the fierce cliffs.
  • fierce-faced carved figures marched across the opposite wall.
  • Collins will be a fierce advocate for personalized medicine.
  • It is an intellectual quest fired by a fierce desire to know, to change her life.
  • His fierce hunger caused him to tremble as if he were in a fever, but fear still held him back, numbed him.
  • And then the fierce, buried anger surged up into his throat.
  • The irony is that there were fierce fights about whether to open the network to students from other colleges.
British Dictionary definitions for fierce

fierce

/fɪəs/
adjective
1.
having a violent and unrestrained nature; savage: a fierce dog
2.
wild or turbulent in force, action, or intensity: a fierce storm
3.
vehement, intense, or strong: fierce competition
4.
(informal) very disagreeable or unpleasant
Derived Forms
fiercely, adverb
fierceness, noun
Word Origin
C13: from Old French fiers, from Latin ferus
Word Origin and History for fierce
adj.

mid-13c., "proud, noble, bold," from Old French fers, nominative form of fer, fier "strong, overwhelming, violent, fierce, wild; proud, mighty, great, impressive" (Modern French fier "proud, haughty"), from Latin ferus "wild, untamed," from PIE root *ghwer- "wild, wild animal" (cf. Greek ther, Old Church Slavonic zveri, Lithuanian zveris "wild beast").

Original English sense of "brave, proud" died out 16c., but caused the word at first to be commonly used as an epithet, which accounts for the rare instance of a French word entering English in the nominative case. Meaning "ferocious, wild, savage" is from c.1300. Related: Fiercely; fierceness.

Slang definitions & phrases for fierce

fierce

adjective

Nasty; unpleasant; awful: Gee, it was fierce of me (1903+)

Related Terms

something fierce