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Characteristic of a felon; malignant; fierce; malicious; cruel; traitorous; disloyal. Vain shows of love to vail his felon hate. Pope.

Fierce; savage; wild; indicating cruelty; ravenous; rapacious; as, ferocious look or features; a ferocious lion. The humbled power of a ferocious enemy. Lowth.

Savage wildness or fierceness; fury; cruelty; as, ferocity of countenance. The pride and ferocity of a Highland chief. Macaulay.

An implacable or malicious foe; one who is diabolically wicked or cruel; an infernal being; -- applied specifically to the devil or a demon. Into this wild abyss the wary fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while. Milton. O woman! woman! when to ill thy mind Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend. Pope.…

Like a fiend; diabolically wicked or cruel; infernal; malignant; devilish; hellish. -- Fiend"ish*ly, adv. -- Fiend"ish*ness, n.

Vehement in anger or cruelty; ready or eager to kill or injure; of a nature to inspire terror; ferocious. "A fierce whisper." Dickens. "A fierce tyrant." Pope. The fierce foe hung upon our broken rear. Milton. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. Job. x. 16.

The state or quality of being flinty; hardness; cruelty. Beau. & Fl.

r be recorded in our history. Landor. It would be a far better work . . . to forefend the cruelty. I. Taylor.

A sly, cunning fellow. [Colloq.] We call a crafty and cruel man a fox. Beattie.

sp., one accustomed to play for a stake; a gambler; one skilled in games. When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner. Shak.

A live coal. [Archaic] The cruel ire, red as any glede. Chaucer.

confronted by so many, like a resolute orator, he went not to denial, but to justify his cruel falsehood. Sir P. Sidney.

Of forbidding or fear-inspiring aspect; fierce; stern; surly; cruel; frightful; horrible. Whose grim aspect sets every joint a-shaking. Shak . The ridges of grim war. Milton.

Oppression; cruel exaction; affiction; pinching distress; as, the gripe of poverty.

Difficult to please or influence; stern; unyielding; obdurate; unsympathetic; unfeeling; cruel; as, a hard master; a hard heart; hard words; a hard character.

Unsympathetic; inexorable; cruel; pitiless. -- Hard"-heart`ed*ness, n.

Destitute of feeling or affection; unsympathetic; cruel. "The heartless parasites." Byron. -- Heart"less*ly, adv. -- Heart"less*ness, n.

Rude; uncivilized; savage; cruel. South.

To render human or humane; to soften; to make gentle by overcoming cruel dispositions and rude habits; to refine or civilize. Was it the business of magic to humanize our natures with compassion Addison.

Showing hunger or a craving desire; voracious. The cruel, hungry foam. C. Kingsley. Cassius has a lean and hungry look. Shak.