voracious
Americanadjective
-
craving or consuming large quantities of food.
a voracious appetite.
-
exceedingly eager or avid.
voracious readers; a voracious collector.
- Synonyms:
- insatiable, rapacious
adjective
-
devouring or craving food in great quantities
-
very eager or unremitting in some activity
voracious reading
Synonym Usage
See ravenous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of voracious
First recorded in 1625–35; voraci(ty) + -ous
Explanation
Voracious is an adjective used to describe a wolflike appetite. It might be a craving for food or for something else, such as power, but the word usually denotes an unflattering greediness. Voracious comes from the Latin vorāre, "to devour." The word is usually associated with swallowing or devouring food in a ravenous manner, but it can be used of someone intensely involved in any activity. Pierre Salinger referred to President Kennedy as a "voracious reader," while Robert Bakker once likened the IRS to a "voracious, small-minded predator."
Vocabulary lists containing voracious
Eat Your Words
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The comedian has been a voracious reader since childhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Kenyon described Gill as a "gentle man with a fierce intelligence" and a "voracious reader" with an "expansive knowledge of the arts".
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The tiny fish have a voracious appetite and work wonders as natural mosquito-control agents in abandoned swimming pools, small residential ponds, and other confined aquatic habitats.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Even as spending gets larger, Microsoft and its hyperscaler peers “broadly reiterated an inability to keep pace with demand despite the voracious buildout,” William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji said in a note.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
But at eighty she has a voracious, knowing look.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
