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🐇 An animal hunted 🕵️ To exploit 😟 A target person 🦉 To hunt animals
to prey

to prey

75 7.8
To use people who are weak or trusting to get what you want
  • verb
  • /prɛɪ/
translation icon : aprovecharse de
  • Unfortunately, there are people and organizations that prey on the good intentions of individuals selecting treatments by promising miracle cures.
  • prey on people
  • prey on the weak
  • prey on the poor

All of this stuff is just a bullshit spin to prey on people's vulnerabilities.

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Examples

  • Extortion rings in many cities prey on businesses, forcing owners to pay to protect their operations and employees.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Leaders who utilize this style of governance in essence prey upon their employees.

    Academic text (2011)

  • His job as a father was to protect you, not prey upon you.

    Dr. Phil

  • But prey on the state, on the people, and on nature.

  • You prey on people, Cam!

    American History X (1998)

  • It's the people in these children's lives who prey on the children.

    ReasonTV

  • The longer that bullies are allowed to prey on their victims, the more they will do so.

    Academic text (2013)

  • They prey on the weak.

    Derailed (2005)

  • - But you will stand for a program that preys on the most disadvantaged students in our society, students who are less likely to pass because of their socioeconomic background.

    The Thinning: New World Order (2018)

  • Bullies often prey on those who are too afraid to stand up for themselves.

Synonyms

to use
vsto prey
∞ 6.3

To treat someone only as a way to get what you want

carries the sense of unfair or exploitative taking for personal benefit
to take advantage
vsto prey
549 4.6

To use a person or situation to get an unfair benefit for yourself

focuses on unfair taking specifically for personal gain rather than neutral use
to take advantage of
vsto prey
465 2.5

Use someone's trust or weakness to get something unfairly

is the broader idea of unfairly using someone or something for gain
to exploit
vsto prey
214 5.6

To use someone or something in an unfair way to get an advantage

is more focused on taking unfairly often for personal gain
to leech off
vsto prey
  • Offensive
4 7.9

To take money, food, or help from someone without giving anything back

is more general unfair taking not limited to habitual getting of support
to parasitize
vsto prey
1 8.0

To use a person or thing to get benefit while giving little back

is more about unfair taking for personal benefit, not about giving back
to act like vultures
vsto prey
  • Offensive
8.4

Try to get something from people when they are in trouble in a greedy way

is used more widely for unfair taking, not only during misfortune

Antonyms

to protect
∞ 1.0

To keep someone or something safe from harm

to support
∞ 1.0

Give help to a person or idea

Phrasal Verbs

to stalk its prey
6 6.6

To move quietly and carefully toward an animal to catch it by surprise

to prey on fears
1 7.4

To use people's fears to get money or power

to search for prey
5.0

To look for animals to hunt and eat

Compounds

bird of prey
9 3.8

A bird that hunts and eats other animals, like eagles or hawks

beast of prey
1 5.1

An animal that hunts and kills other animals to eat

How Exploitative

to extort
44 8.1
to rip off
  • Informal
76 6.5
to prey
75 7.8
to use
∞ 6.3

Surface Forms

prey infinitive
preyed past
preyed past participle
preying present participle
preys third person singular

Etymology

Prey comes from the old Latin word praeda, meaning 'booty' or 'something taken'. So to prey on someone is to take advantage of them, as if they were something to be taken for another person's gain.