noble savage

noble savage
noun
Usage: sometimes capitalized N&S
: a mythic conception of people belonging to non-European cultures as having innate natural simplicity and virtue uncorrupted by European civilization ; also : a person exemplifying this conception

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ˌnoble ˈsavage 7 [noble savage] noun
a word used in the past to refer in a positive way to a person or people who did not live in an advanced human society

The book contrasts modern civilization with the ideal of the noble savage who lived in harmony with nature.


Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Noble Savage — Студийный альбом Virgin Steele Дата выпуска 1985 Записан …   Википедия

  • noble savage — n. [sometimes N S ] in Romanticism, primitive man conceived as existing in a virtuous, innocent state uncorrupted by civilization * * * ▪ literary concept       in literature, an idealized concept of uncivilized man, who symbolizes the innate… …   Universalium

  • noble savage — n. [sometimes N S ] in Romanticism, primitive man conceived as existing in a virtuous, innocent state uncorrupted by civilization …   English World dictionary

  • Noble savage — For the Virgin Steele album, see Noble Savage (album). A detail from Benjamin West s heroic, neoclassical history painting, The Death of General Wolfe (1771), depicting an idealized Native American. The term noble savage (French, bon sau …   Wikipedia

  • Noble Savage (album) — Noble Savage Studio album by Virgin Steele Released 1986 …   Wikipedia

  • noble savage — noun Date: 1670 a mythic conception of people belonging to non European cultures as having innate natural simplicity and virtue uncorrupted by European civilization; also a person exemplifying this conception …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • noble savage — See Rousseau …   Philosophy dictionary

  • noble savage — noun a representative of primitive mankind as idealized in Romantic literature …   English new terms dictionary

  • noble savage — lit. no′ble sav′age n. 1) (in literature) the concept of a mythical primitive human being with virtuous qualities uncorrupted by civilization 2) a person embodying this concept • Etymology: 1672 …   From formal English to slang

  • noble savage — /noʊbəl ˈsævɪdʒ/ (say nohbuhl savij) noun (in certain 18th century philosophical texts) a person uncorrupted by contact with civilisation. {from the phrase which first appeared in The Conquest of Granada (1672) by Dryden; then taken up by the… …  

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