Synonym Chooser

How is the word voracious different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of voracious are gluttonous, rapacious, and ravenous. While all these words mean "excessively greedy," voracious applies especially to habitual gorging with food or drink.

teenagers are often voracious eaters

When could gluttonous be used to replace voracious?

In some situations, the words gluttonous and voracious are roughly equivalent. However, 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

When can rapacious be used instead of voracious?

While the synonyms rapacious and voracious are close in meaning, rapacious often suggests excessive and utterly selfish acquisitiveness or avarice.

rapacious developers indifferent to environmental concerns

When might ravenous be a better fit than voracious?

While in some cases nearly identical to voracious, 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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of voracious Well, utilities are getting a lot of attention as a way to play AI’s voracious appetite for electricity. Michael Foster, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025 These butterflies utilize cole crop foliage for laying eggs, out of which hatch voracious larvae that decimate the foliage and put an end to your fantasies about a hefty cole crop harvest. Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 29 Aug. 2025 Mirren, however, is a voracious reader and read the book long before she was cast. EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025 Japanese Beetles Japanese beetles, which have metallic green bodies and coppery wing covers, have voracious appetites, chowing down on more than 300 plant species, including crepe myrtle. Arricca Elin Sansone, Southern Living, 25 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for voracious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for voracious
Adjective
  • Polaha plays Dick Hall, the president of Meridian Mortgage who is taken hostage by Tony Kiritsis (Ribisi), who publicly accuses him on being a greedy and cutthroat monster.
    Matt Grobar, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Left-wing antisemitism, which cast Jews as greedy capitalists, existed as well, especially in France, but Jew-baiting remained primarily a right-wing pursuit, the work of illiberal nativists who saw a tiny minority as polluting the purity of their racial or religious communities.
    Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • According to concerned parents, Henrikson was an avid supporter of fellow 6th-grade teacher Jeanine Rupert, who was reassigned by the district following an incident towards the end of the previous school year.
    David Chiu, PEOPLE, 10 Oct. 2025
  • In 2006, Clendenen — an avid runner and reader in her down time — joined the San Diego Police Department with an interest in investigations.
    Ashley Mackin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Those ravenous fans still gave it a rare A+ CinemaScore, naturally, which is certainly kinder than some music critics were to the album itself.
    Brian Welk, IndieWire, 6 Oct. 2025
  • But few of the directors who would join V/H/S over the years that followed introduced a more memorable creature — a birdlike demon who oscillates from purring affection to ravenous rage — or so skillfully tracked the running bodies captured by a running camera.
    A.A. Dowd, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Schmidt's presence courtside -- always adorned in the team's maroon and gold colors -- and her enthusiastic cheering on of the team drew attention from fans and national broadcasters.
    ABC News, ABC News, 10 Oct. 2025
  • The answer is an enthusiastic yes.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • There was some fatigue in our performance, but the group are always so professional and so hungry to win.
    George Caulkin, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
  • Visibly hungry for a goal, Messi missed an opportunity to join the scoresheet in the 54th minute.
    Franco Panizo, Miami Herald, 5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Jones is particularly excited about the opportunities for personalization.
    Jessica Coacci, Fortune, 9 Oct. 2025
  • But while countless fans couldn’t be more excited for Bad Bunny’s showcase, other people — including the president of the United States — aren’t as keen that a primarily Spanish-speaking artist got the gig.
    Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • To carry out her vision, McMahon has brought on at least 20 political appointees from ultraconservative think tanks and advocacy groups eager to de-emphasize public schools, which have educated students for roughly 200 years.
    Megan O’Matz, ProPublica, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Following the splashy release of Sora 2, Musk — a founder of OpenAI who left the board in 2018 and has since become a fierce critic of the company and Altman — appeared particularly eager to plug his competitor product.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Just as the most vocal skeptics of the SCORE Act within college sports decided to pledge their support for the bill, another is being introduced by one of the most ardent critics of the potential legislation that has been making its way through the House of Representatives.
    Ralph D. Russo, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
  • But the ardent annual cookie pushers have a new challenger.
    Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 30 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Voracious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/voracious. Accessed 11 Oct. 2025.

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