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as in predatory
living by killing and eating other animals rapacious mammals, such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word rapacious different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of rapacious are gluttonous, ravenous, and voracious. While all these words mean "excessively greedy," rapacious often suggests excessive and utterly selfish acquisitiveness or avarice.

rapacious developers indifferent to environmental concerns

When can gluttonous be used instead of rapacious?

Although the words gluttonous and rapacious have much in common, 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

When could ravenous be used to replace rapacious?

The synonyms ravenous and rapacious are sometimes interchangeable, but 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

When might voracious be a better fit than rapacious?

The meanings of voracious and rapacious largely overlap; however, voracious applies especially to habitual gorging with food or drink.

teenagers are often voracious eaters

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rapacious Such support might marginally improve Chad’s rapacious security sector. Nathaniel K. Powell, Foreign Affairs, 1 Feb. 2016 To that end, his meeting with the notoriously rapacious lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), who’d successfully prosecuted the Rosenbergs and served as Joseph McCarthy’s right hand in anti-Communist hearings, sets off a lucrative and sinister mentorship. Scott Tobias, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2025 There are striking parallels between Deus Ex’s themes and Musk’s own intellectual interests, from transhumanism and rapacious capitalism through to conspiracy theories. Lewis Gordon, Vulture, 14 Jan. 2025 Be realistic, however: Talk such as Trump’s could be very useful to those expansionist, rapacious tyrants. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 15 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for rapacious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapacious
Adjective
  • Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered Cramer said the market action punished investors who’ve stayed negative, as well as short sellers and hedge funds that got greedy in the past few days.
    Russell Leung, CNBC, 9 Apr. 2025
  • There are also a number of Native American legends in which buzzards are portrayed as greedy and deceptive compared with other large birds.
    Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • In creator Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel on Paramount+, husband and wife Jacob and Cara Dutton (Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren) fight to protect their sprawling Montana ranch from cattle thieves, a predatory land baron (Timothy Dalton) and an untamed, unpredictable wilderness.
    Sean Piccoli, Deadline, 5 Apr. 2025
  • By 540 million years ago, the Cambrian explosion was underway — a rapid diversification of life that saw the emergence of complex multicellular organisms, predatory behavior and the foundations of modern ecosystems.
    Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Others have used computer vision with some success in aiding material analysis of pigments and texture; more mercenary applications by museums and collectors include its potential to authenticate works of art.
    Sonja Drimmer, Artforum, 1 Apr. 2025
  • Bennett Conlin, editor: Former Terps legends Len Elmore and Tom McMillen wanted the program to avoid hiring another mercenary coach, instead bringing in a coach with strong Maryland ties.
    Baltimore Sun staff, Baltimore Sun, 1 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Regardless of their general publisher designation, the ravenous architects of Hungry Minds want to be known beyond the world of reading.
    Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Once everyone had a turn, the tables were opened for ravenous seconds, thirds and fourths, until no crumbs were left behind.
    Simon J. Levien, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • This nation state, my home, is built on a quagmire of lies sold to the young as truths; sold to the insecure as truths; sold by the avaricious, the power-hungry, the conceited, the overwhelmingly white and male.
    Christine Winter, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Pearce plays Van Buren as hungry and avaricious even in his kinder moments, a man of immense wealth whose primary desire is to own more and more.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • In addition, stubbornly high interest rates are prompting institutional investors to offload their holdings in these prime spaces, while luxury companies are eager to take advantage of once-in-a-generation opportunities, and lock in properties for the long term.
    Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 10 Apr. 2025
  • And Burnes, a resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., was eager to enjoy spring training and play regular-season games at home.
    Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Like other acquisitive companies, the integration of technology was sub-optimal.
    Peter High, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025
  • Infinite Reality, which is building a headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was founded in 2019 and has been acquisitive in recent months, buying companies such as the Drone Racing League, Landvault and virtual reality retail brand Obsess.
    Kif Leswing, CNBC, 25 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rapacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapacious. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

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