Word Study
feral
CIDE DICTIONARY
feral, a. [L. ferus. See Fierce.].
Wild; untamed; ferine; not domesticated; -- said of beasts, birds, and plants. [1913 Webster]
feral, a. [L. feralis, belonging to the dead.].
Funereal; deadly; fatal; dangerous. Burton. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
feral, adj.
1 (of an animal or plant) wild, untamed, uncultivated.
2 a (of an animal) in a wild state after escape from captivity. b born in the wild of such an animal.
3 brutal.
1 (of an animal or plant) wild, untamed, uncultivated.
2 a (of an animal) in a wild state after escape from captivity. b born in the wild of such an animal.
3 brutal.
Etymology
L ferus wild
THESAURUS
feral
Draconian, Tartarean, abandoned, amok, animal, anthropophagous, atrocious, baneful, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bellowing, berserk, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, carried away, cinerary, cruel, cruel-hearted, deadly, death-bringing, deathful, deathly, delirious, demoniac, demoniacal, destructive, devilish, diabolic, dirgelike, dismal, distracted, ecstatic, enraptured, epitaphic, exequial, fatal, fell, ferine, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, frantic, frenzied, fulminating, funebrial, funebrious, funebrous, funeral, funerary, funereal, furious, haggard, hellish, hog-wild, howling, hysterical, in a transport, in hysterics, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, internecine, intoxicated, kill-crazy, killing, lethal, mad, madding, malign, malignant, maniac, merciless, mortal, mortuary, mournful, murderous, necrological, noncivilized, obituary, obsequial, orgasmic, orgiastic, pernicious, pitiless, possessed, rabid, raging, ramping, ranting, raving, ravished, roaring, running mad, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, sepulchral, sharkish, slavering, storming, subhuman, swinish, tameless, transported, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, uncontrollable, ungentle, unhuman, untamed, vicious, violent, virulent, wild, wild-eyed, wild-looking, wolfishFor further exploring for "feral" in Webster Dictionary Online