rapacious
Americanadjective
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given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed.
-
inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate.
a rapacious disposition.
- Antonyms:
- generous
-
(of animals) subsisting by the capture of living prey; predacious.
adjective
-
practising pillage or rapine
-
greedy or grasping
-
(of animals, esp birds) subsisting by catching living prey
Related Words
See avaricious.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rapacious
First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin rapāci- (stem of rapāx “greedy,” akin to rapere “to seize”; see rape 1) + -ous
Explanation
Something rapacious is out to devour — anything, and little can stand in its way. A rapacious landlord is out for more rent, and a rapacious eater is only satisfied at the all-you-can-eat buffet. A 17th-century word, from the Latin rapere, "to snatch," rapacious originally described the people and animals who often preyed on weaker creatures and devoured them, by eating them or by ruining them through some scandal. Modern-day companies even get the label rapacious when their appetites for profit seem to devour "lesser" interests, like the environment and employee benefits.
Vocabulary lists containing rapacious
"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl
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Grade 11, List 2
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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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.
Officials at the track in Orange County said Rapacious had completed his morning workout Tuesday when he reared up twice as he was about to exit the track.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 27, 2022
Rapacious logging, commercial hunting and agricultural development pushed deer, elk, bears, wolves, passenger pigeons and more to the brink of extinction - and, in some cases, beyond.
From Washington Times • Oct. 27, 2019
Rapacious men in what he called the “gobble, gobble school of economics”.
From The Guardian • Sep. 21, 2018
"Calcutta," wrote the British colonial general Clive, "is one of the most wicked places in the Universe... Rapacious and Luxurious beyond conception."
From BBC • Oct. 21, 2016
Rapacious the shark certainly is; but what sea-fish is not?
From The Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales by Bullen, Frank T.
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.
