raptorial
Americanadjective
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preying upon other animals; predatory.
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adapted for seizing prey, as the bill or claws of a bird.
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belonging or pertaining to the Raptores, a former order in which the falconiform and strigiform birds were erroneously grouped together.
adjective
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(of the feet of birds) adapted for seizing prey
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(esp of birds) feeding on prey; predatory
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of or relating to birds of prey
Etymology
Origin of raptorial
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The team also examined owl and raptorial predators however while the effects were the same, they were not as evident.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2023
In either case, we clearly have underestimated the abilities of those big, beady, raptorial eyes.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 13, 2018
Equipped with grasping, raptorial appendages, these Ordovician hunters plucked up soft-bodied prey and fed it into their camera-shutter mouths.
From Science Magazine ● May 25, 2011
Adj. taking &c. v.; privative†, prehensile; predaceous, predal†, predatory, predatorial†; lupine, rapacious, raptorial; ravenous; parasitic. bereft &c.
From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Roget, Peter Mark
It was not a very magnificent present, but the action seems to show that the bird possesses some commendable qualities which are seldom seen in the raptorial family.
From Argentine Ornithology, Volume II (of 2) A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic. by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
