Word of the Day

: February 24, 2024

voracious

adjective vuh-RAY-shus

What It Means

Voracious describes someone who has a huge appetite. It can also be used figuratively to mean "excessively eager," as in "a voracious reader."

// It seemed like the voracious kitten was eating her weight in food every day.

// She has her voracious appetite for knowledge to thank for graduating at the top of her class.

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voracious in Context

"Cane toads are unwelcome in Australia because the bulbous amphibian is a voracious eater that when stressed releases a toxin strong enough to kill lizards, snakes, crocodiles—almost anything that dares to attack it. In a suburban setting, that includes dogs and cats." — Hilary Whiteman, CNN, 19 Jan. 2024

Did You Know?

Voracious is one of several English words that come from the Latin verb vorare, which means "to eat greedily" or "to devour." Vorare is also an ancestor of devour and of the -ivorous words that describe the diets of various creatures. These include carnivorous ("meat-eating"), herbivorous ("plant-eating"), omnivorous ("feeding on both animals and plants"), frugivorous ("fruit-eating"), graminivorous ("feeding on grass"), and piscivorous ("fish-eating").