What's the difference between merciless and savage?

Merciless


Definition:

  • (a.) Destitute of mercy; cruel; unsparing; -- said of animate beings, and also, figuratively, of things; as, a merciless tyrant; merciless waves.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Sri Lanka mounted a merciless final assault on the Tamil Tiger insurgency in 2009 .
  • (2) And up there, looming over it all is Zynga, social gaming's Ming the Merciless.
  • (3) He attacked, battened down the hatches on his serve and was merciless in the tie-break, levelling the match with a well-placed volley.
  • (4) Pyongyang reacted angrily when The Interview’s plot first became public and promised a “resolute and merciless” response if it went ahead.
  • (5) Where we already have the electoral numbers, our political vengeance has been merciless against the GOP; witness California after its electoral dalliance with anti-immigrant policies or Mitt Romney’s disastrous 2012 campaign .
  • (6) Gerrard had been mercilessly taunted again by Chelsea’s supporters and he had played as if determined to turn the volume down.
  • (7) But, despite such incidents, many will see the latest episode as some sort of karmic revenge for Letterman's often merciless take on the moral lapses of others.
  • (8) The Stoke supporters mercilessly booed the Welshman’s every touch, presumably for his reluctance to accept Ryan Shawcross’ apology for breaking his leg at the Britannia Stadium six years ago, and there was also some unsavoury and shameful chanting by a section of the home fans, who sang: “Aaron Ramsey, he walks with a limp”.
  • (9) Celeb bombed, and the critics were merciless, so I had wondered if that was why Enfield withdrew from our screens.
  • (10) It was the fasting month of Ramadan and as mercilessly hot as a desert city in high summer could be.
  • (11) Like some of those R-rated comedies that go down very well in the States, they don’t work here and don’t get released.” The Interview stars Rogen and James Franco as two journalists charged with carrying out the killing of Kim Jong-un, a storyline which prompted North Korean officials to complain to the United Nations in July and prompted state media warnings of “merciless retaliation”.
  • (12) With international lenders at the EU and IMF demanding that Athens step up its austerity drive - or risk losing the funding that is keeping its debt-stricken economy afloat -- President Carolos Papoulias told the visiting delegation: "Up until now, we've been receiving a merciless lashing.
  • (13) I’m afraid you’ve lost my trust.” HSBC chiefs face Margaret Hodge at her most merciless Read more She went on: “I really do think that you should consider your position and you should think about resigning and if not, I think the government should sack you.” Fairhead has been a non-executive director of HSBC since 2004, and was made the chair of the audit and risk committee – which bore responsibility for governance and compliance across the global bank – in May 2007.
  • (14) Always a contrived fiction, this sequence juxtaposes a poignant fantasy of a fully fit presenter with the merciless world of hard news.
  • (15) Remember those embarrassing bills for wisteria clearance at the young Conservative leader’s home amid the expenses debacle of 2009, and how these were lopped away by a merciless assault on the more shameless claims of various knights of the shire?
  • (16) Not even the cameras from the media that were capturing the unfolding scene were enough to deter the circus owner from pulling a gun and mercilessly beating us.
  • (17) Sheng Keyi , meanwhile, turns a mercilessly ironic eye on modern Chinese life, particularly the difficulties faced by women in a hypersexualised culture and the insecure economic life of migrant workers.
  • (18) The brief flurry of liberal street protest in 2011 and 2012 was ruthlessly snuffed out by the Kremlin, and many have suggested that, far from a liberal revolution, the most likely revolt in Russia is the “senseless and merciless” Russian uprising of which Alexander Pushkin wrote.
  • (19) In the 13th century the Cathars put up a strong defence of their beliefs and territory against the merciless persecution meted out by the Albigensian crusade.
  • (20) It’s happening to Christians now right across the Middle East and Africa, and the dangers of not speaking up have been made clear since the Paris attacks, when innocent people were gunned down mercilessly while shopping for food for the Shabbat [Jewish Sabbath].

Savage


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to the forest; remote from human abodes and cultivation; in a state of nature; wild; as, a savage wilderness.
  • (a.) Wild; untamed; uncultivated; as, savage beasts.
  • (a.) Uncivilized; untaught; unpolished; rude; as, savage life; savage manners.
  • (a.) Characterized by cruelty; barbarous; fierce; ferocious; inhuman; brutal; as, a savage spirit.
  • (n.) A human being in his native state of rudeness; one who is untaught, uncivilized, or without cultivation of mind or manners.
  • (n.) A man of extreme, unfeeling, brutal cruelty; a barbarian.
  • (v. t.) To make savage.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The duo were given a standing ovation as they took to the stage helped by Evans and guest presenter Robbie Savage.
  • (2) But he will also have seen Michael Cockerell's savage documentary on Saturday on How to be a Tory leader.
  • (3) Lib Dems are the most hostile to cuts and the keenest on tax – 32% want cuts and 53% tax – suggesting that Clegg's talk of "savage" reductions in spending may go down badly with his party base.
  • (4) And yet, by spotlighting how very far the brand has travelled under Sarah Burton in the post-Lee years, the Savage Beauty announcement, coming hot on the heels of the Antipodean tour, also flags up the contrasting identities that cohabit the McQueen brand.
  • (5) Vince Cable, the business secretary, who was savagely critical of BAE over bribery allegations whilst in opposition in 2010 , said: "It is a very, very important decision and has major implications for the country, both in terms of employment and national security.
  • (6) Wendy Savage, from Keep Our NHS Public , said groups from London, Oxford and Manchester would be demonstrating alongside members of the NHS Consultants' Association.
  • (7) After savaging the childcare support available to poorer working parents through tax credits in 2011, the coalition last year sought to redeem itself with a first draft of the new subsidy scheme, which created some winners up the scale, but left many more vulnerable part-time workers better off not working at all.
  • (8) We feel that Mrs. Savage and Dr. Francome (Dec. 2, p. 1323) provide important information to be considered in the debate about the provision of abortion services.
  • (9) Geller's ads, sharply dividing the world into civilized people and savages, are only intended to hurt and tear fragile relationships apart."
  • (10) A trained economist, and de facto "deputy chancellor" under Gordon Brown between 1997 and 2005, Balls's recent speech at Bloomberg, savaging the "growth deniers" of the Con-Dem coalition and urging a slower pace of fiscal consolidation, was hailed by Martin Wolf ("basically right") and Samuel Brittan ("spot on") of the Financial Times.
  • (11) Then there’s the shift from disability living allowance to the personal independence payment , which last month the public accounts committee savaged as a “fiasco”, leaving many facing six-months delays – and the dying having to wait for weeks for support.
  • (12) The 15-year-old was tortured and savagely beaten before he drowned in a bath at his sister’s flat in east London on Christmas Day 2010.
  • (13) Consequently, after Hartson fed Jason Koumas on the right in the first minute and the ball was cleared to Savage on the edge of the Russian box, Savage whacked at the bouncing ball excitedly.
  • (14) Their policy decisions, including increases in the cost of living, the sale of TIO [Territory Insurance Office], savage cuts to health and education and general arrogance has burned public trust in their integrity and competence,” said Snowdon, who called the party “a joke” and said nobody could take the territory seriously now.
  • (15) At last year’s press launch for Savage Beauty’s homecoming leg Martin Roth, the V&A director, told a story about the day, four years ago, when he landed in New York to see the show there.
  • (16) John Savage 'We were all cycling, listening to the Smiths' Ruth Martin outside the Salford Lads Club, Salford.
  • (17) Iranians complain that it represents them as savage, murderous and warmongering.
  • (18) In the wake of the savage killing of Rigby in broad daylight it emerged that Adebolajo and Adebowale were both known to MI5 – and Adebolajo had been approached on his return from Kenya to the UK to act as an informer and help the security services break up extremist Islamist cells.
  • (19) The FCO's lawyers had already conceded in court that the accounts given by the three Mau Mau veterans – of castration, rape and savage beatings – had been honest accounts, and that senior British and colonial officials had been aware of the ugly truth about daily life in the prison camps of 1950s Kenya.
  • (20) The corporation received 43 complaints after Robinson used the phrase on BBC1's 6pm bulletin on Wednesday, hours after the savage machete attack that killed a serving soldier in London .