rapacious
1
8.4
- adjective
- /rəˈpeɪʃəs/
:
predador
- Pound for pound, a velociraptor was the most rapacious dinosaur that ever lived.
- rapacious predators
Examples
-
It's the rapacious serpent from Ethan Rankin's jungle trip.
Fiction book (2000) -
The rapacious hawk circled above, searching for its next meal.
-
Seeing the mice leads Darwin to the rapacious birds.
-
This rapacious new breed prowls both alone and in packs, operating at any level, any time, anywhere, and with anybody!
-
A cross appears at the center of the composition, anchored with chains; four rapacious birds attempt to attack it but are fended off by the intense light that it emits.
Academic text (1997) -
With its rapacious appetite, the lion quickly devoured its prey.
-
The rapacious alligator waited patiently for an unsuspecting fish to swim by.
Synonyms
8
4.8
Hunting and eating other animals for food
1
8.4
An animal that hunts and eats other animals for food
1
9.9
Likely to take advantage of weak people or animals, like a bird that eats dead animals
1
9.1
Animals, especially birds, that catch and eat other animals
An animal that hunts and kills other animals for food
Living by hunting and eating other animals
An animal that eats other animals for food
Very hungry or greedy and acting in a violent way to take what others have
Antonyms
Compounds
How Predatory
Surface Forms
Morphology
rapacious = rapac + ious
The component parts are Latinate and the root is not a productive English base, so the predatory sense is not transparently derivable by average learners from the surface parts.
Etymology
Rapacious comes from the Latin root rapere, 'to seize', and is the same root as raptor, a bird of prey that grabs its food. So the word fits animals that hunt and take other animals to eat, which is why it means 'predatory' or 'seizing prey'.