Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having a savage and violent nature; ferocious. See Synonyms at cruel.
- adj. Extremely severe or violent; terrible: "the fierce thunders roar me their music” ( Ezra Pound).
- adj. Extremely intense or ardent: fierce loyalty. See Synonyms at intense.
- adj. Strenuously active or resolute: a fierce attempt to escape.
- adj. Informal Very difficult or unpleasant: a fierce exam.
- adj. Savage or threatening in appearance.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Wild, as a beast; savage; ferocious; having a cruel or rapacious disposition or intention: as, a fierce lion; a fierce pursuer.
- Ferocious in quality or manifestation; indicating or marked by savage cruelty or rage.
- Violent; vehement; impetuous; passionate; ardent.
- Wild; disordered; dreadful.
- Strong; powerful.
- Great; large (of number).
- Brisk; lively.
- Sudden; precipitate.
- =Syn. 1–3. Infuriate, fell, fiery, passionate, barbarous, rapacious, ravenous.
Wiktionary
- adj. Extremely violent, severe, ferocious or savage.
- adj. Resolute or strenuously active.
- adj. Threatening in appearance or demeanor.
- adj. slang, Ireland, rural very, excellent.
- adj. slang, US Of exceptional quality, exhibiting boldness or chutzpah.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Furious; violent; unrestrained; impetuous.
- adj. Vehement in anger or cruelty; ready or eager to kill or injure; of a nature to inspire terror; ferocious.
- adj. Excessively earnest, eager, or ardent.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. ruthless in competition
- adj. marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid.
- adj. violently agitated and turbulent
- adj. marked by extreme and violent energy
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old French fers ("wild", "ferocious"), from Latin ferus ("wild", "untamed") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English fiers, from Old French, from Latin ferus; see ghwer- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Grey was at his computer, his expression fierce as his fingers flew over the keyboard.”
“Bryce tore his mouth from hers to stare down at her, his expression fierce with desire.”
“He said that at least 10 rebels were killed and more than 30 wounded in what he described as fierce urban warfare.”
The Washington Post: Gaddafi forces attack rebels anew, even as regime appears to seek talks
“The government of Greenland awarded new exploration licenses to seven international energy companies in November, including Cairn, amid what it described as fierce competition for access.”
The Wall Street Journal: Cairn Plans Further Greenland Exploration
“He swung around to face her, his expression fierce.”
“You know, 40 years ago, Dr. King challenged America to act on what he called the fierce urgency of now.”
“And Iraq issues more threats this past weekend, promising that America would suffer heavy losses in what it called a fierce war if it were attacked.”
“He was the designer who once used the word "fierce" to describe a pair of chaps, made "hot tranny mess" a catchphrase and wore his hair in a style that looked like a result of electroshock therapy.”
“Though it made him famous, Christian Siriano hardly ever uses the word "fierce" anymore.”
“But with intense competition for customers resulting in fierce discounting battles among stores, inflation isn't as welcome now.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fierce’.
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grade 3
ability, absorb, act, tive, actual, adopt, advantage, ambition, ancient, arrange, arctic, attitude and 125 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Ayumi G3
Ability, absorb, accuse, act, active, actual, adopt, advantage, advice, ambition, ancient, approach and 128 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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sophasaurus's list
tactile, facilitate, optimum, balk, release, drastic, galore, corrosive, bedevilments, fierce, deliberate, potential and 13 more...
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Adjectives for XKCD936-compliant pass...
A list of 2048 common English adjectives that could be used to create plausible, memorable random phrases.
I'm going to use this list in a password generator, inspired by big, small, happy, sad, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, near, far and 19 more... -
fashion
words that describe my closet, your closet, her closet, his closet, anyones closet in the world.
bejeweled, sequined, pleather, fierce, fabulous, black, broke is the new ..., burn out, stud, bustier, bangin belt, christian loubout... and 4 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
ShuckFinn's Words
abecedarian, conflate, mondegreen, whit, truculent, downright, pugnacious, effluvium, canker, inveigle, obfuscate, melancholy and 227 more...
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Vocabulary Words
words to reference while writing something
cohesive, epitome, tempered, imply, prudent, sundry, sagest, agitation, giddy, disposition, inclination, gracious and 114 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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to acquire
moustache, thoughtcrime, lift, overall, razor, strength, oily, gin, oily gin, brotherhood, dull, toward and 108 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
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Coruscatingly what?
List of adjectival terms, from aggressive to zippered, paired in printed materials with the adverb coruscatingly, identified by a simple query to Google Search (Books).
...propaedeutic...aggressive, angry, articulate, astringent, aware, beautiful, big, blinding, bright, brilliant, brutal, cerebral and 93 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for fierce.
skipvia That was news to me too, rt. Jun 17, 2009
reesetee Fascinating article, skip--thanks! I had no idea that the ampersand began life as a ligature. Jun 16, 2009
qroqqa Huh, 6 days ago I observed that 'fluffiness' has two ligatures (in proper print), and coincidentally used the word 'decline'. Jun 16, 2009
skipvia Then you might enjoy this page about typographic ligatures, fc. Jun 16, 2009
fiercecupcake I love the way that the "f" and the "i" collide in some fonts, and I love noticing whether they do in whatever font I'm reading. (Not in the wordie.org font!) Jun 16, 2009