voracious

adjective

vo·ra·cious | \vȯ-ˈrā-shəs,

və-\

Definition of voracious

1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous

2 : excessively eager : insatiable a voracious reader

Other Words from voracious Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Veracious or voracious? Did You Know? More Example Sentences Learn More about voracious

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Choose the Right Synonym for 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

Veracious or voracious?

Take care to distinguish between the near-homophones veracious and voracious, whose similarities in sound mask utterly different meanings. Veracious (“honest, truthful”), like its cousins veritable, verify, and very, concerns that which is true. Voracious (”having a greedy or insatiable appetite”), on the other hand, describes the urge to consume large quantities of something, often food, books, or ideas. One way to remember the difference is that the one with the E as its second letter means "truE," and the one with the O as its second letter means "ravenOus." Not coincidentally, these adjectives have near-homophonous noun derivatives: veracity ("truthfulness") and voracity ("the quality or state of being voracious").

Did You Know?

Voracious is one of several English words that derive 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, which describe the diets of various animals. 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").

Examples of voracious in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Take the lionfish, a voracious predator that’s also a popular aquarium fish. — Matt Simon, WIRED, "Inconvenient Minifauna and the Invasion of the Hammerhead Flatworms," 25 May 2018 On Thursday, Superintendent Pedro Ramos announced plans to team up with state wildlife officers who last year began hiring hunters to kill the voracious snakes. — Jenny Staletovich, miamiherald, "Calling all hunters: Everglades National Park wants you to kill its Burmese pythons," 31 May 2018 The dam straddles Oregon and Washington, and the sea lions' voracious eating there affects fish populations in both states, as well as in Idaho and elsewhere. — Ryan Sabalow, sacbee, "To protect salmon in the Columbia, will we have to kill more sea lions?," 6 July 2018 With a population of nearly 1.4 billion, China had a voracious appetite. — Author: David Goldstein, Anchorage Daily News, "Cities scramble to rewrite rules on recycling after China restricts ‘foreign garbage’," 3 July 2018 Nashville Predators fans have become some of the most voracious and informed hockey fans in the U.S. — Si.com Staff, SI.com, "Nine Innings: Jason Heyward's Turning Point, Expansion Possibilities and Bryce Harper's Struggles," 18 June 2018 Pat was a voracious reader, devouring everything from detective novels to biographies, and was extremely appreciative of the Windsor Public Library. — Hartford Courant, courant.com, "Patricia Alves," 21 June 2018 Brock said her mother was also a voracious reader, loved music and was active in her community, volunteering with the Daughters of the American Revolution and at Wauwatosa United Methodist Church. — Samantha West, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Woman killed in head-on crash in Wauwatosa remembered for her love of art, teaching, grace," 6 June 2018 In a world seemingly filled with giant, voracious corporations, that matters. — Mary Mooney, OregonLive.com, "Traveling Ewe looking to expand; help them do it with Indiegogo and Patreon," 11 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'voracious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.