as in rapacious
living by killing and eating other animals
hawks are predatory and pose a danger to rabbits and other pets
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Recent Examples of predatory
Protesters who were part of that movement questioned why banks received governmental bailouts while households struggling with predatory student debt did not.
—
Celina Su, The Conversation, 1 Apr. 2026
The law was reformed in 2024 through a legislative deal after a pressure campaign by business groups who said the law was being exploited for cash grabs by predatory attorneys.
—Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Some people have relied on predatory loans to get by.
—Clio Chang, Curbed, 25 Mar. 2026
For decades, discriminatory housing policies — including redlining, racially restrictive covenants and predatory land-sale contracts — systematically extracted the very wealth from Black families that fuels neighborhood investment.
—Tonika Lewis Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Celina Su, The Conversation, 1 Apr. 2026
The law was reformed in 2024 through a legislative deal after a pressure campaign by business groups who said the law was being exploited for cash grabs by predatory attorneys.
—Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
Some people have relied on predatory loans to get by.
—Clio Chang, Curbed, 25 Mar. 2026
For decades, discriminatory housing policies — including redlining, racially restrictive covenants and predatory land-sale contracts — systematically extracted the very wealth from Black families that fuels neighborhood investment.
—Tonika Lewis Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predatory
Adjective
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Queensland had a rapacious frontier in the 19th century, which led to the establishment of the Native Mounted Police in 1848.—
Britannica Editors,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
19 Mar. 2026
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But then there is the rapacious Bavarian and national media, for whom negativity about Bayern is big business, and a dressing room always loaded with forthright personalities and egos.—
The Athletic Staff,
New York Times,
15 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Orbán's nationalist party has become a model for MAGA populists, particularly for its aggressive stance on immigration.—
Hannah Demissie,
ABC News,
7 Apr. 2026
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Florian Wirtz was over aggressive in his initial press and then lacked urgency to help balance out City’s right-side overload, while neither Curtis Jones or Ryan Gravenberch drifted across.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
7 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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These food-crops also benefit from the work performed by predaceous insects that control populations of crop-eating invertebrates.—
Bruce Beehler,
Baltimore Sun,
17 Aug. 2025
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Biological control: Parasitic wasps, predaceous beetles and birds assist in lowering sawfly populations.—
Rita Perwich,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Villegas pushed for the original measure after dangerous speeding and red-light running by raptorial tow drivers ended in a nearly catastrophic crash in his ward that saw a bus that had been hit by a tow truck plow through a storefront.—
Jake Sheridan,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2025
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Damsel bugs are slender and tan-colored and have slightly raptorial front legs.—
Rita Perwich,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
1 July 2023
Adjective
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These rules had been tightened since 2020, when relations soured following a deadly border skirmish in the Galwan Valley, where several Indian and Chinese soldiers died.—
Priyanka Salve,
CNBC,
7 Apr. 2026
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Simple precautions — avoiding unattended charging, unplugging when full, and keeping larger devices away from exits — can prevent deadly battery fires.—
Fedor Zarkhin,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Italy happens to be in similarly ferocious form, however, and has won seven of its last eight, albeit losing twice in as many encounters with qualifying group winner Norway last year.—
Ben Verbrugge,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2026
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Despite Iran’s remarkably ferocious response across the region – attacking neighbors like Oman who days earlier mediated between Tehran and Washington - weeks of intense airstrikes against its cities and military has not magically left it a hundred feet tall.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Her work plainly belongs to this lineage of witchy writers, women whose deliciously corrupted scenes of home and hearth produce fear and wild laughter at once.—
Kristen Roupenian,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
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Sure, there were errant 3-pointers, and a wild reverse layup that was way off in the third quarter.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
6 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The famed African American journalist investigated lynchings across the South and wrote about the savage incidents that the white press had already explained away.—
Case Thorp,
The Orlando Sentinel,
5 Apr. 2026
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The loss of books is minor, almost trivial, in light of all the horrors and violence unleashed by this senseless war, but the potential loss of these books is a sad reminder that we’re all affected and implicated in America’s savage flailings.—
James Folta,
Literary Hub,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Predatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predatory. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.
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