rapacious

[ruh-pey-shuhs]

adjective

1. given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed.

2. inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate.

   a rapacious disposition.

   Synonyms: grasping, voracious, ravenous
   Antonyms: generous

3. (of animals) subsisting by the capture of living prey; predacious.

rapacious

/ rəˈpæsɪtɪ, rəˈpeɪʃəs /

adjective

1. practising pillage or rapine

2. greedy or grasping

3. (of animals, esp birds) subsisting by catching living prey

Other Word Forms

• rapacity noun
• rapaciously adverb
• rapaciousness noun
• unrapacious adjective
• unrapaciously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of rapacious¹

First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin rapāci- (stem of rapāx “greedy,” akin to rapere “to seize”; rape ¹ ) + -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of rapacious¹

C17: from Latin rapāx grasping, from rapere to seize

Synonym Study

See avaricious.

Example Sentences

There’s only one thing worse than being exploited by rapacious capitalists and that’s not being exploited by them.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Mr. Modi would do well to heed complaints by ordinary people in the world’s largest democracy and curb rapacious officials’ power to extract bribes.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

But the cynicism that has always thrummed underneath his high-concept comedies — the dehumanizing algorithms, the rapacious finance system — is more prominent in this slim, potent novel.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“It wouldn’t work. The United States has a rapacious appetite for pushing kids. But I can at least make sure a child is given their sweet time in kindergarten,” she said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Even in the triumph of the worst, which is the age of robber barons and the age of rapacious capitalism and imperialism, even those things were being contested.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• ferocious 
• greedy 
• marauding 
• predatory 
• ravenous 
• voracious