sexual predator

American  

[sek-shoo-uhl pred-uh-ter, -tawr] / ˈsɛk ʃu əl ˈprɛd ə tər, -ˌtɔr /

noun

1. a person who repeatedly commits sexual assault or other sex-related crimes, often targeting a specific type of victim.

   A sexual predator has been jailed for 13 years for his involvement in a child sex-trafficking ring.

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Other Word Forms

• sexual predation noun

Etymology

Origin of sexual predator

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Speaking after the verdicts were announced, Det Ch Insp Emma Smith from Northumbria Police said Hall was a "callous calculating sexual predator".

From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026

“There was a sexual predator in our community, and we thank the Mountain View Police Department for identifying him,” Santa Clara Dist.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2024

His crusade had led to criminal charges against several men — including a jail deputy, but his work also misidentified one person as a sexual predator, according to the sheriff’s office.

From Washington Times • Oct. 2, 2023

Some of her colleagues, she says, classify offenders in five sometimes overlapping categories: the ex-partner, the revenger of perceived wrongs, the rejected suitor, the lonely incompetent suitor and the sexual predator.

From Scientific American • Jul. 26, 2023

Ripoff Report is one of hundreds of “complaint sites” — others include She’s a Homewrecker, Cheaterbot and Deadbeats Exposed — that let people anonymously expose an unreliable handyman, a cheating ex, a sexual predator.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2021