predacious

especially Biology, pre·da·ceous

[pri-dey-shuhs]

adjective

1. predatory; rapacious.

predacious

/ prɪˈdeɪʃəs, prɪˈdæsɪtɪ /

adjective

1. (of animals) habitually hunting and killing other animals for food

2. preying on others

Other Word Forms

• predaciousness noun
• predacity noun
• unpredaceous adjective
• unpredaceously adverb
• unpredaceousness noun
• unpredacious adjective
• unpredaciously adverb
• unpredaciousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of predacious¹

First recorded in 1705–15; pred(atory) + -acious

Word History and Origins

Origin of predacious¹

C18: from Latin praeda plunder; compare _predatory

Example Sentences

The picture tells the story of a young woman, Danae, who’s been locked in a high tower by her father to keep her away from predacious men.

Read more on New York Times

She feels shut out by the city’s predacious, moneyed tribes, battered by its “impenetrable shapes” and “fierce elbows.”

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They’re predacious, eating whatever they can get their grubby hands on.

Read more on Washington Times

Now, four days later, Nukita warned us that a similarly predacious swarm of print and television reporters lay in wait for us in Kathmandu.

Read more on Literature

Metastasis therefore requires the untethering of these bonds, to allow predacious cancer cells to migrate freely.

Read more on Scientific American

Related Words

• greedy 
• marauding 
• rapacious 
• voracious