predator
[pred-uh-ter, -tawr]
- Zoology. any organism that exists by preying upon other organisms.
- a predatory person.
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Origin of predator
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
carnivoreExamples from the Web for predator
Contemporary Examples
Amirpour sees the pimp as a liberator rather than a predator.
A man tracks her back to a building where the girl bares her fangs and devours him, reversing the role of predator.
I truly believe that most predator priests are out there living alone.
One of those is Neal Blue, the co-owner and CEO of General Atomics, the company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones.
He believes that consuming the spirit on a regular basis gives him the strength of a tiger and the senses of a predator.
Historical Examples
In general, the predator is bulkier than his prey, since he overcomes him and devours him.
Introduction to the Science of SociologyRobert E. Park
This was a natural infestation of a laboratory culture by a predator.
The Biotic Associations of CockroachesLouis M. Roth
And yet there was nothing about Jason Perfidion—nothing physical, that is—that suggested the predator.
A Knyght Ther WasRobert F. Young
A predator feeding on other animals would be expected to leave some evidence of its habits on the bones of its prey.
Two New Pelycosaurs from the Lower Permian of OklahomaRichard C. Fox
These services are aimed at re-establishing economic equilibrium in the host (predator) economies.
After the RainSam Vaknin
predator
- any carnivorous animal
- a predatory person or thing
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for predator
n.
1862, from Latin praedator "plunderer," from praedari "to rob" (see predation). Originally Predatores (Swainson, 1840) used of insects that ate other insects.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
predator
[prĕd′ə-tər]
- An animal that lives by capturing and eating other animals.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.