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 WebThe president’s daily press conferences routinely portray his party as concerned for the poor, combating rapacious elites, and defending national sovereignty against internal and external threats, including opposition parties and foreign influence.—Denise Dresser, Foreign Affairs, 17 May 2024 Additionally, don't miss Hunter River’s thick mangrove system, which shelters rapacious saltwater crocodiles and Indigenous rock art scribed thousands of years ago in Vansittart Bay.—Kerry Spencer, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Dec. 2023 He was believed to have been the model for the character of Gordon Gekko, the rapacious villain played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film Wall Street.—Greg Farrell, Fortune, 20 May 2024 In this rapacious subculture, mobsters went into subdivisions and snapped up a half dozen homes at a time.—Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica, 14 Mar. 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
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