English Dictionary

FEROCIOUS

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ferocious mean? 

FEROCIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective FEROCIOUS has 1 sense:

1. marked by extreme and violent energyplay

  Familiarity information: FEROCIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


FEROCIOUS (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Marked by extreme and violent energy

Synonyms:

ferocious; fierce; furious; savage

Context example:

a furious battle

Similar:

violent (acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity)

Derivation:

ferociousness (the trait of extreme cruelty)

ferocity (the property of being wild or turbulent)


 Context examples 


Formerly, White Fang had been merely the enemy of his kind, withal a ferocious enemy.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

His eyebrows were tufted and overhanging, which gave those naturally cold eyes an almost ferocious aspect, an impression which was increased by his strong and furrowed brow.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He knows me, and I know him. Do YOU know me? Hey? said Mr. Creakle, pinching my ear with ferocious playfulness.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He roared in a ferocious, animal-like way, and gave me a shove with his hand.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He allowed himself to be shoved away by her in much the same way that a ferocious but obedient dog allows itself to be shoved away by its master.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The building site, dubbed "Sparky," is a dense galactic core blazing with the light of millions of newborn stars that are forming at a ferocious rate.

(Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy, NASA)

He saw her yearning, hungry eyes, and her ill-fed female form which had been rushed from childhood into a frightened and ferocious maturity; then he put his arms about her in large tolerance and stooped and kissed her on the lips.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There was something horrible in the ferocious energy of Berks’s hitting, every blow fetching a grunt from him as he smashed it in, and after each I gazed at Jim, as I have gazed at a stranded vessel upon the Sussex beach when wave after wave has roared over it, fearing each time that I should find it miserably mangled.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Juno found that the Great Red Spot's roots go 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth's oceans and are warmer at the base than they are at the top. Winds are associated with differences in temperature, and the warmth of the spot's base explains the ferocious winds we see at the top of the atmosphere.

(NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, NASA)

Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink." (English proverb)

"After dark all cats are leopards." (Native American proverb, Zuni)

"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone." (Arabic proverb)

"The maquis has no eyes, but it sees all." (Corsican proverb)



ALSO IN ENGLISH DICTIONARY:


© 2000-2023 AudioEnglish.org | AudioEnglish® is a Registered Trademark | Terms of use and privacy policy
Contact