rapacious
4
9.3
- adjective
- /rəˈpeɪʃəs/
- Formal
:
rapaz
- The rapacious landlord raised the rent continuously, making it hard for tenants to stay.
- rapacious exploitation
- rapacious greed
- rapacious extraction
I used to think that we were horrible and rapacious and must be controlled.
- I used to think that we were horrible and rapacious and must be controlled.
- Morse has been described as physically ugly, amoral, rich beyond reason, rapacious and shady.
- They'll say because because business owners are pricks, they're greedy and they're rapacious and if they paid more money, those jobs would fill.
- And that primordial mistake gives rise to an idiot, violent, rapacious God.
- Selfish administration, corrupt courts, rapacious industry.
Examples
-
And yet, it is capitalism that is portrayed as fostering rapacious dog-eat-dog competition.
Blog text (24) -
Why did they gut the middle class in their rapacious appetite for riches?
Blog text (10) -
I used to think that we were horrible and rapacious and must be controlled.
-
Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America.
Academic text (2014) -
But soon there were reports of rapacious economic exploitation of the natives and of the land.
Academic text (1990) -
It's an example of the rapacious litigation that today is tearing at the very fabric of our society.
-
Environmentalists hate the bulldozer as a symbol of rapacious destruction, and lord knows examples abound.
Blog text (23) -
Monique was a Valley legend for her instincts, her suavity, and her rapacious, exemplary greed.
Fiction book (2001) -
In agreement with Aristotle and Epicurus, Montaigne deplores feverish and rapacious desires that dominate one's soul.
Academic text (1999) -
For instance, throughout McTeague, rapacious hoarders are relentlessly likened to animals ranging from flying squirrels to nest-brooding birds to prehensile cats.
Academic text (2016)
Synonyms
256
1.4
Wanting more food, money, or things than needed
43
6.1
Trying to take advantage of people to get money or power
19
7.5
Having a very large hunger for food or learning
5
7.3
Wanting more than is fair or safe
4
6.0
Wanting a lot of money, even if it hurts other people
4
8.1
Wanting a lot of money or things and not willing to share
4
7.3
Doing things mainly for money rather than for belief or loyalty
3
9.2
Always wants more money and is never satisfied
3
6.5
Showing a strong desire to get a lot of money, often at others' expense
3
8.4
Wanting very much to have something that belongs to someone else
3
7.3
Using people or situations unfairly to get personal benefit
2
7.9
To want to get and keep many things, often things you can buy
1
8.2
Wanting to get more money or things in a selfish way
1
9.1
A person who takes more than others, especially food, in a greedy, rude way
Very hungry or greedy and acting in a violent way to take what others have
Wanting far more than is fair or reasonable
Being greedy and taking more than your fair share of food or things
Very hungry and wanting a lot of food or money
Wanting very much to get money or things
A person or group that tries to take advantage of others to get money
To treat people unfairly to get money or other benefits
Antonyms
Compounds
How Greedy
Surface Forms
Morphology
rapacious = rapac + ious
Although the adjective contains a recognisable suffix '-ious', the root form ('rapac-') is not a standalone English word and the derivation is a learned, Latinate formation rather than a transparent English composition.
Etymology
Rapacious comes from the Latin root rapere, which means 'to seize' or 'to grab'. So a rapacious person or company is pictured as someone who grabs money and goods without care, which is why the word means very greedy.