rapacity
1
9.9
- noun
- /rəˈpæsɪti/
- Formal
:
rapacidad
- The rapacity of the condottieri included seizing power for themselves, even among Italian republics.
Examples
-
The greed and rapacity of the Spanish managed to kill or work to death nearly all the local Indians.
Blog text (2) -
The CEO's rapacity for wealth has led to numerous unethical business practices.
-
The Democrats have continued to drain the economy of capital every year since with increasing rapacity.
Blog text (20) -
I've always admired your rapacity, sir.
-
His hands opened and closed at us with the rapacity of a miser being held back from his coins.
Fiction book (1990) -
But the former virtue can cross a line into rapacity, just as the latter can cross a line into priggishness.
Blog text (32) -
He is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity.
Blog text (18) -
In trade, for instance, even though people are aware of merchants' rapacity and greed, their attitude towards them is one of moral neutrality rather than condemnation.
Academic text (1996) -
Besides, his kingdom was poor and his treasury, despite his rapacity, was trifling; there was nothing to be gained by such an action but the satisfaction of doing right, an inducement easily resisted by the local nobility.
Fiction book (1999) -
The rapacity of the warlord caused widespread suffering among the local population as he seized their resources.
Synonyms
293
1.9
A strong selfish wish for more, especially money or power
11
9.9
A very strong desire to have more money and things
3
8.4
A very strong hunger or want for something you cannot get enough of
1
9.9
A very strong desire to have more money and things
1
8.8
A very strong desire for money and things
1
4.0
Wanting too much money or things and not being satisfied
1
9.9
A very strong desire to take more than is fair
1
8.1
A strong wish to get and keep money and things
1
7.9
A very strong desire for more food, money or success
A strong greedy wish to take more than is fair
A very strong desire to have a lot of money and things
A very strong wish to have more money or things, even when you have enough
A strong desire to have more than your fair share of things
Antonyms
How Greedy
Surface Forms
Morphology
rapacity = rapacious (semi-transparent) = rapac + ity
Formed by a regular noun-forming suffix '-ity' attached to the adjective 'rapacious'; the combining element 'rapac-' is not a standalone English word, so learners unfamiliar with 'rapacious' may not infer the meaning reliably.
Etymology
Rapacity comes from the Latin words rapax and rapere, which mean 'to seize' or 'to grab'. So rapacity describes a strong habit of taking or wanting too much, which is why we use it for extreme greed for money or things.