red in tooth and claw

adjective

Characterized by uncaring, amoral ruthlessness or brutality, especially of a kind seen as reflecting the way of things in nature.

“We love nature, but nature doesn't love us. One night in the Amazon rainforest will show us that nature is red in tooth and claw.”

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Meanings

adjectivered in tooth and claw (not comparable)
  1. not comparableCharacterized by uncaring, amoral ruthlessness or brutality, especially of a kind seen as reflecting the way of things in nature.

    We love nature, but nature doesn't love us. One night in the Amazon rainforest will show us that nature is red in tooth and claw.

    1 more example

    And he, shall he, Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair, […] Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law— Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shriek’d against his creed— […] Be blown about the desert dust, Or seal’d within the iron hills?

    1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto LVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

Origin

From Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam A.H.H.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

red in tooth and claw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20in%20tooth%20and%20claw

MLA

“red in tooth and claw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20in%20tooth%20and%20claw. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “red in tooth and claw,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20in%20tooth%20and%20claw.

Source: red in tooth and claw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.