1
as in shrew
a bad-tempered scolding woman
in fairy tales stepmothers are often portrayed as harpies who make the lives of their stepchildren miserable
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2
as in predator
a person who habitually preys upon others
having just started to make it really big in the music business, he found himself surrounded by a flock of harpies greedy for a piece of the action
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Recent Examples of harpy
Others portrayed her as a harpy, a notoriously disagreeable mythical beast that was half bird-of-prey, half woman.
—
The Economist, 9 Nov. 2019
The clergy and royal courts in days of yore used images of griffins, hellmouths, harpies, dragons and sea swine to instill fear, to divide anxious populations, to assert dominance and control, and to ostracize non-Europeans.
—Steven Litt, cleveland.com, 1 Sep. 2019
Elizabeth Moss, as Claire, has based her career playing sad-sacks and harpies, in Mad Men, The Square, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Her Smell; so Moss is a comic actress by default.
—Armond White, National Review, 9 Aug. 2019
Those kinds of sentiments have multiplied on social media, which has exploded with memes in recent days calling the four everything from terrorists to harpies to cancer.
—Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, 27 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for harpy
The Economist, 9 Nov. 2019
The clergy and royal courts in days of yore used images of griffins, hellmouths, harpies, dragons and sea swine to instill fear, to divide anxious populations, to assert dominance and control, and to ostracize non-Europeans.
—Steven Litt, cleveland.com, 1 Sep. 2019
Elizabeth Moss, as Claire, has based her career playing sad-sacks and harpies, in Mad Men, The Square, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Her Smell; so Moss is a comic actress by default.
—Armond White, National Review, 9 Aug. 2019
Those kinds of sentiments have multiplied on social media, which has exploded with memes in recent days calling the four everything from terrorists to harpies to cancer.
—Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, 27 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for harpy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpy
Noun
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The shrew is one of these mammals, according to the study.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
27 Aug. 2025
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The elephant shrew genus Macroscelides was the sole exception, shifting to omnivory after adopting myrmecophagy during the Eocene.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
ArsTechnica,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Once the jaguar is secure on the floatation device, the rescue vessel carries the exhausted predator along the river — one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon — towards land.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
7 Oct. 2025
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These kids may be in the custody of a predator and those cases deserve to be taken seriously.—
Stepheny Price , Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Probably Solomon Kane was the biggest [influence] besides Conan, this kind of mashup of puritan warrior priest and vampires and monsters and the undead and all these things.—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Oct. 2025
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The 1987 horror-comedy, directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Richard Donner, follows two teenage brothers who move with their divorced mother to the fictional town of Santa Carla, California, only to discover that the town is a haven for vampires.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Meanwhile, the Young Bird Photographer of the Year prize was awarded to 16-year-old Tomasz Michalski from Poland, for his striking silhouette of a black vulture.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
30 Sep. 2025
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This configuration produces tilted stroke planes, much like those seen in geese, vultures, and kingfishers during slow flight.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
18 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Harpy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpy. Accessed 12 Oct. 2025.
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