rapacity

[ ruh-pas-i-tee ]

noun

the quality of being rapacious, or given to seizing things for plunder: That the monastery was raided six times, and burned 26 times in between, shows the rapacity of the Vikings.
extreme greediness; predatory quality or character: People blamed the higher prices on the rapacity of businesses.

(of animals) the fact or characteristic of subsisting by the capture of living prey: The early settlers of America suffered from the severity of the climate and the rapacity of wolves.

Origin of rapacity

First recorded in 1490–1500, from Latin rapācitās, equivalent to rapāci- (stem of rapāx “greedy”; see rapacious ) + -tās -ty²

Though I’m not sure I realized that till I was grown and married myself, and only because I could feel its absence My parents’ life together started with a rapacious, let’s elope kind of love.
A Love Letter For All the Days After Valentine's Day | Susanna Schrobsdorff | February 14, 2021 | Time
Even as we cheer for her stamina, we shrink from her rapacity.
Brecht's Mercenary Mother Courage Turns 75 | Katie Baker | September 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Thus the rapacity of Capital defeats itself, and actually impoverishes its owners when it deprives Labor of a fair reward.
Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
This is one of the truths which sloth, rapacity and extravagance are slow to learn, yet which they cannot safely ignore.
Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
Could I dream that nothing would satisfy your rapacity but my destruction?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. | Various

I would excuse the rapacity of the Mahajan if it has succeeded in keeping the gambling die or toddy from the ryot's home.
Third class in Indian railways | Mahatma Gandhi
For Torrington's weakness and negligence caused ten times as much mischief as his rapacity.
The History of England from the Accession of James II. | Thomas Babington Macaulay

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