rapacious

adjective

ra·​pa·​cious rə-ˈpā-shəs How to pronounce rapacious (audio)
Synonyms of rapaciousnext
1
: excessively grasping or covetous
2
: living on prey
3
: ravenous
a rapacious appetite
rapaciously adverb
rapaciousness noun

Synonyms

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 
Choose the Right Synonym for rapacious

voracious, gluttonous, ravenous, rapacious mean excessively greedy.

voracious applies especially to habitual gorging with food or drink.

teenagers are often voracious eaters

gluttonous applies to one who delights in eating or acquiring things especially beyond the point of necessity or satiety.

an admiral who was gluttonous for glory

ravenous implies excessive hunger and suggests violent or grasping methods of dealing with food or with whatever satisfies an appetite.

a nation with a ravenous lust for territorial expansion

rapacious often suggests excessive and utterly selfish acquisitiveness or avarice.

rapacious developers indifferent to environmental concerns

Examples of rapacious in a Sentence

nothing livens things up like a whole team of rapacious basketball players descending upon the pizza parlor rapacious mammals, such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats
Recent Examples on the Web In this rapacious subculture, mobsters went into subdivisions and snapped up a half dozen homes at a time. —Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica, 14 Mar. 2024 Katie Porter has fought to defend the well-being of the little guy against rapacious banks and drug companies. —Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 13 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for rapacious 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rapacious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin rapāc-, rapāx "given to seizing or catching things (as prey), carrying away, excessively grasping" (from rapere "to seize and carry off" + -āc-, -āx, deverbal suffix denoting habitual or successful performance) + -ious — more at rapid entry 1, audacious

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of rapacious was in 1651

Dictionary Entries Near rapacious

Rapa

rapacious

rapacity

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Rapacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rapacious. Accessed 29 May. 2024.

Copy Citation

Share

Kids Definition

rapacious

adjective
ra·​pa·​cious rə-ˈpā-shəs How to pronounce rapacious (audio)
1
: very greedy
2
: predatory sense 2
rapaciously adverb
rapaciousness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on rapacious

Nglish: Translation of rapacious for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of rapacious for Arabic Speakers

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway

How to Use Accents and Diacritical Marks
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

Pilfer: How to Play and Win

The Words of the Week - May 24

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

9 Superb Owl Words

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game You can make only 12 words. Pick the best ones!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A crossword with a twist
winning words from the national spelling bee logo
Spelling Bee Quiz Can you outdo past winners of the National Spelli...