vulture

[ vuhl-cher ]

/ ˈvʌl tʃər /

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See synonyms for vulture on Thesaurus.com

noun

any of several large, primarily carrion-eating Old World birds of prey of the family Accipitridae, often having a naked head and less powerful feet than those of the related hawks and eagles.

any of several superficially similar New World birds of the family Cathartidae, as the turkey vulture.

a person or thing that preys, especially greedily or unscrupulously: That vulture would sell out his best friend.

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Origin of vulture

1325–75; Middle English <Latin vultur

OTHER WORDS FROM vulture

vul·ture·like, adjective

Words nearby vulture

vulnerary, Vulpecula, vulpecular, vulpicide, vulpine, vulture, vulturine, vulva, vulvitis, vulvovaginitis, VU meter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use vulture in a sentence

There were still bodies in the cornfields and in mud houses being chewed over by vultures.
Survivors and Families of Victims of a 1981 El Salvador Massacre See Justice Slip Away Again|by Raymond Bonner and Nelson Rauda for ProPublica|September 13, 2021|ProPublica
Nearly as soon as national relevance is sniffed, major conferences begin to circle a lesser-known program and its staff like vultures, poaching coaches and sometimes entire teams.
How Easy Are Encores For Upstart College Football Programs?|Josh Planos|September 1, 2021|FiveThirtyEight
In the mid-1970s, ZZ Top staged the Worldwide Texas Tour, performing on a Texas-shaped stage home to wagon wheels, corral fences, cactuses and live animals including rattlesnakes, vultures, a longhorn and buffalo.
Dusty Hill, ZZ Top bassist with a legendary beard, dies at 72|Harrison Smith|July 29, 2021|Washington Post
“It was like vultures swarming the gas pump, just driving around in circles checking all the pumps,” said Alfonso Forte, a clerk at a Circle K north of Charlotte.
Panic buying strikes Southeastern United States as shuttered pipeline resumes operations|Will Englund, Ellen Nakashima|May 12, 2021|Washington Post

We did one, and it’s another instance where we’re just like vultures trying to make a quick buck and profit off a culture we don’t have anything to do with.
Media Briefing: How publishers are pushing podcasts to new audiences|Tim Peterson|April 15, 2021|Digiday
Vulture wrote a helpful-ish explainer about how to make sure you see it.
Neil Patrick Harris: Yes, That’s My Penis In ‘Gone Girl’|Kevin Fallon|October 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On Buzzfeed, Vulture, Twitter, and in our hearts, these people are celebrated.
'Nick & Knight': Nick Carter and Jordan Knight Are Your New Boy Band Power Couple|Kevin Fallon|September 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Vulture, too, noticed her “effortless, self-deprecating charm.”
Jennifer Lawrence Shouldn’t Laugh Off Her Nude Photo Hack|Samantha Allen|September 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Specifically, it happened on October 15, when the series aired its fifth episode, “The Vulture.”
How ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Became This Year’s Hottest New Sitcom|Kevin Fallon|January 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Vulture Shia LaBeouf responds to Jim Carrey's Golden Globes attack.
'Frozen' Takes on Broadway, Outkast Announces Full Tour|Culture Team|January 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ask the disappointed vulture and the mouth of the muttering earth to tell you, gentlemen passengers!
A Lost Hero|Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward and Herbert D. Ward
This, with contemptuous indignation, we fling back into their face, as a scorpion to a vulture.
The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States|Martin R. Delany
As the Vulture was of too large a draught to proceed higher, the troops were placed on board the steamers Pluto and Corsair.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III.|E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
Yellow Vulture has seen the taunts calling the red warriors "women with the hearts of deer."
The Talking Horse|F. Anstey
Very few birds probably ascend to a height of two thousand feet in the air, the vulture tribe excepted.
The Devil-Tree of El Dorado|Frank Aubrey

British Dictionary definitions for vulture

vulture

/ (ˈvʌltʃə) /

noun

any of various very large diurnal birds of prey of the genera Neophron, Gyps, Gypaetus, etc, of Africa, Asia, and warm parts of Europe, typically having broad wings and soaring flight and feeding on carrion: family Accipitridae (hawks)See also griffon 1 (def. 2), lammergeier

any similar bird of the family Cathartidae of North, Central, and South AmericaSee also condor, turkey buzzard

a person or thing that preys greedily and ruthlessly on others, esp the helpless

Derived forms of vulture

vulture-like, adjective

Word Origin for vulture

C14: from Old French voltour, from Latin vultur; perhaps related to Latin vellere to pluck, tear

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

vulture

COMPARE MEANINGS

Origin of vulture

OTHER WORDS FROM vulture

Words nearby vulture

Words related to vulture

How to use vulture in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for vulture

Derived forms of vulture

Word Origin for vulture