Fierce

//fɪəs// adj, adv, slang

adj, adv, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Exceedingly violent, severe, ferocious, cruel or savage.

    "A fierce storm battered the coast."

  2. 2
    Resolute or strenuously active.

    "We made a fierce attempt to escape."

  3. 3
    Threatening in appearance or demeanor.

    "The lion gave a fierce roar."

  4. 4
    Excellent, very good. Ireland, slang

    "Q: "How was the party last night?" A: "Fierce!""

  5. 5
    Of exceptional quality, exhibiting boldness or chutzpah. US

    "Tyra said to strike a pose and make it fierce."

Adjective
  1. 1
    violently agitated and turbulent wordnet
  2. 2
    ruthless in competition wordnet
  3. 3
    marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions; inclined to react violently; fervid wordnet
  4. 4
    marked by extreme and violent energy wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Extremely; very. Ireland, not-comparable, slang

    "It was fierce cold last night."

Synonyms

All synonyms
ferociousincessiveabandonedacidacidulousacrid

Example

More examples

"The competition has become fierce."

Etymology

From Middle English fers, fiers, borrowed from Old French fers (“wild", "ferocious”), nominative of fer, from Latin ferus (“wild", "untamed”).

Related phrases

fierce snakesomething fierce

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.