ferocious

Taken from Latin ferox (“wild, bold, savage, fierce”) (with the suffix -ous), from ferus (“wild, savage, fierce”).

• IPA^(key): /fəˈɹəʊʃəs/
• Rhymes: -əʊʃəs

ferocious (comparative more ferocious, superlative most ferocious)

1. Marked by extreme and violent energy.
   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Scotland needed a victory by eight points to have a realistic chance of progressing to the knock-out stages, and for long periods of a ferocious contest looked as if they might pull it off.

2. Extreme or intense.

• fierce

• ferociously

• ferity
• ferocity
• fierce
• feral

• ferocious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ferocious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• ferocious at OneLook Dictionary Search