Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ferocious

Fe·ro′cious, a. [L. ferox, -ocis, fierce: cf. F. féroce. See Ferocity.] Fierce; savage; wild; indicating cruelty; ravenous; rapacious; as, ferocious look or features; a ferocious lion.

The humbled power of a ferocious enemy. Lowth.

Syn. — Ferocious, Fierce, Savage, Barbarous. When these words are applied to human feelings or conduct, ferocious describes the disposition; fierce, the haste and violence of an act; barbarous, the coarseness and brutality by which it was marked; savage, the cruel and unfeeling spirit which it showed. A man is ferocious in his temper, fierce in his actions, barbarous in the manner of carrying out his purposes, savage in the spirit and feelings expressed in his words or deeds.

— Fe·ro′cious·ly, adv. — Fe·ro′cious·ness, n.

It [Christianity] has adapted the ferociousness of war. Blair.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.