Link Centre Dictionary

predatory

pre·da·tory

UK/ˈpɹɛdət(ə)ɹi/ US/ˈpɹɛdəˌtɔɹi/ uncommon

adjective

1.

characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding

  • “bands of marauding Indians”
  • “predatory warfare”
  • “a raiding party”
Similar
2.

living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey

  • “a predatory bird”
  • “the rapacious wolf”
  • “raptorial birds”
  • “ravening wolves”
  • “a vulturine taste for offal”
3.

living by or given to victimizing others for personal gain

  • “predatory capitalists”
  • “a predatory, insensate society in which innocence and decency can prove fatal” Peter S. Prescott
  • “a predacious kind of animal--the early geological gangster” W.E.Swinton

Origin

Borrowed from Latin praedātōrius, equivalent to predator + -y.

Phrases

  • predatory conference
  • predatory incursion
  • predatory journal
  • predatory pricing
  • predatory publishing
  • predatory tunicate

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.