voracious

vo·ra·cious

adjective \vȯ-ˈrā-shəs, və-\

Definition of VORACIOUS

1

: having a huge appetite : ravenous

2

: excessively eager : insatiable <a voracious reader>

— vo·ra·cious·ly adverb

— vo·ra·cious·ness noun

Examples of VORACIOUS

1. He has a voracious appetite.
2. <it seemed like the voracious kitten was eating her weight in food every day>

Origin of VORACIOUS

Latin vorac-, vorax, from vorare to devour; akin to Old English ācweorran to guzzle, Latin gurges whirlpool, Greek bibrōskein to devour

First Known Use: 1635

Related to VORACIOUS

Synonyms

edacious, esurient, gluttonous, greedy, hoggish, piggish, rapacious, ravenous, swinish

Antonyms

apathetic, indifferent, uneager, unenthusiastic

Related Words

hearty, wolfish; devouring, gobbling, gorging, gormandizing, gulping; insatiable, unquenchable, unslakable; empty, famished, hungry, peckish [chiefly British], starved, starving; malnourished, underfed, undernourished

Near Antonyms

content, full, glutted, sated, satiated, satisfied, stuffed

Synonym Discussion of VORACIOUS

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>.

Rhymes with VORACIOUS

audacious, bodacious, capacious, cetaceous, crustaceous, curvaceous, drupaceous, edacious, fallacious, flirtatious, fugacious, hellacious, herbaceous, loquacious, mendacious, micaceous, pomaceous, predaceous, pugnacious, rapacious, rosaceous, sagacious, salacious, sebaceous, sequacious, setaceous, tenacious, testaceous, tufaceous, ungracious, veracious, vinaceous