rapacious

[ruh-pey-shuhs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rapacious ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed.

inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate: a rapacious disposition.

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

Origin of rapacious

1645–55; < Latin rapāci- (stem of rapāx greedy, akin to rapere to seize; see rape¹) + -ous

Related formsra·pa·cious·ly, adverbra·pac·i·ty

[ruh-pas-i-tee] /rəˈpæs ɪ ti/, ra·pa·cious·ness, nounun·ra·pa·cious, adjectiveun·ra·pa·cious·ly, adverbun·ra·pa·cious·ness, noun

Synonyms for rapacious

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rapacious ON THESAURUS.COM

2. ravenous, voracious, grasping; preying.

Synonym study

2. See avaricious.

Antonyms for rapacious

2. generous.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for rapacious

ferocious, greedy, voracious, ravenous, predatory, marauding, avaricious, furious, murderous, preying, savage, ravening

Examples from the Web for rapacious

Contemporary Examples of rapacious

Which brings us to the elephant in the room—the rapacious advance of online bookselling, personified by Amazon.
Amazon Won’t Kill the Indie Bookstore
Bill Morris
July 30, 2014
These early rehearsal scenes see Simmons go for the jugular, verbally undressing his students with rapacious license.
‘Whiplash’ Is Sundance’s Hottest Film, A Music-Themed Drama Starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons
Marlow Stern
January 24, 2014
And like the medical profession and the food industry, New York has been spoiled by rapacious profit-mongers and hypercapitalists.
Weren’t Those the Bad Old Days? The Poison of New York City Nostalgia
Michael Moynihan
January 6, 2014
Mayberry had no banks, however, as squalid and rapacious as mine.
Daddy, How Come You’re Always Broke? Benjamin Anastas’s ‘Too Good to Be True’
Benjamin Anastas
October 15, 2012
Assailing her at every turn has been her rapacious political rival, Tony Abbott.
Aussie P.M. Narrowly Escapes Protest, Leaves Shoe Behind
Sam Bungey
January 28, 2012

Historical Examples of rapacious

This his rapacious miserable master had the meanness to take from him.
Journal of a Residence at Bagdad
Anthony Groves
On the other hand, the officials were inquisitorial and rapacious.
The Siege of Boston
Allen French
Every window was open, and from within came sounds of rapacious cleaning.
The Crooked House
Brandon Fleming
In the time of nidification the most feeble birds will assault the most rapacious.
The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 1
Gilbert White
What to the rapacious landlord is the widow's last mite but a Fast-Fish?
Moby Dick; or The Whale
Herman Melville

British Dictionary definitions for rapacious

rapacious

adjective

practising pillage or rapine

greedy or grasping

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

Derived Formsrapaciously, adverbrapacity (rəˈpæsɪtɪ) or rapaciousness, noun

Word Origin for rapacious

C17: from Latin rapāx grasping, from rapere to seize

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 rapacious

adj.

1650s, from Latin rapaci-, stem of rapax "grasping," itself from stem of rapere "to seize" (see rapacity) + -ous. Related: Rapaciously; rapaciousness.