harpy

noun

har·​py ˈhär-pē 

plural harpies

1

capitalized : a foul malign creature in Greek mythology that is part woman and part bird

2

a

: a predatory person : leech

b

: a shrewish woman

Synonyms

• shrew

Examples of harpy in a Sentence

in fairy tales stepmothers are often portrayed as harpies who make the lives of their stepchildren miserable

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies. —Sam Cochran, Architectural Digest, 11 Aug. 2025

For those guys, mothers are either harpies or sirens—villains or traps. —Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 2 May 2024

This is her name for the seventh circle of hell from Dante’s Inferno, where the souls of those who’ve committed suicide become trees, and harpies peck at them for all eternity. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2023

Karen is, of course, the generic name for the ubiquitous American harpy who, through the long summer of 2020, pitched fits about masks and sometimes about race, in public spaces. —Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 18 Aug. 2020

Word History

Etymology

Latin Harpyia, from Greek

First Known Use

1513, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing harpy

• harpy eagle

Rhymes for harpy

• carpi

Kids Definition

harpy

noun

har·​py ˈhär-pē 

plural harpies

1

capitalized : a foul creature of Greek mythology that is part woman and part bird

2

a

: a greedy person

b

: an evil-tempered woman