Link Centre Dictionary

rapacious

ra·pa·cious

UK/ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/ US/rʌˈpeɪʃɪs/ uncommon

adjective

1.

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”
2.

excessively greedy and grasping

  • “a rapacious divorcee on the prowl”
  • “ravening creditors”
  • “paying taxes to voracious governments”
3.

devouring or craving food in great quantities

  • “edacious vultures”
  • “a rapacious appetite”
  • “ravenous as wolves”
  • “voracious sharks”

Origin

Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”) + -acious.

Related words

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.