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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of predatory
They apparently got caught opening up their systems to predatory resellers, which is a betrayal of fans and artists.
—
Jem Aswad, Variety, 20 Oct. 2025
After incarceration, Wright will be required to register as a predatory offender and be on conditional release for 10 years.
—Nick Ferraro, Twin Cities, 18 Oct. 2025
Birds, parasitic wasps, ladybugs, and other predatory insects are enemies of fall armyworms.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 14 Oct. 2025
Growth done right means building thriving, connected communities where families can live, work, and play without spending hours stuck in traffic or paying predatory toll prices just to move.
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Jem Aswad, Variety, 20 Oct. 2025
After incarceration, Wright will be required to register as a predatory offender and be on conditional release for 10 years.
—Nick Ferraro, Twin Cities, 18 Oct. 2025
Birds, parasitic wasps, ladybugs, and other predatory insects are enemies of fall armyworms.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 14 Oct. 2025
Growth done right means building thriving, connected communities where families can live, work, and play without spending hours stuck in traffic or paying predatory toll prices just to move.
—Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predatory
Adjective
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Professional sports are rapacious for-profit enterprises that produce wildly entertaining, sometimes violent, and sometimes inspiring athletic competition.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
7 Nov. 2025
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People still live beyond the confines of these fantastical constructions, but in a very dangerous world plagued by poverty, criminal gangs, rapacious rulers, and, most treacherous of all, unrepressed memories of an earlier time when exhilaration was imaginable.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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That’s the kind of chance that last season, a more aggressive-looking Stolarz would have used his frame — and frankly, his big-game presence — to turn away with ease.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
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The agency has also faced criticism for aggressive tactics used by ICE agents in executing the president’s immigration policy.—
Andy Rose 19 hr ago,
CNN Money,
9 Nov. 2025
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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The Burbank Police Department also shared a security camera video from the deadly shootout.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
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Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Just a big ferocious ball of meat, claws, and teeth.—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
31 Oct. 2025
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Though the storm did not make a direct hit on Haiti, its ferocious rains caused rivers to flood and jump their banks.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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But every point matters for the Sabres, and these 2 were enough to put them in the second wild-card spot based on points percentage.—
Matthew Fairburn,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
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Those interviews can be conducted through wild-card weekend and are limited to three hours in length.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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This league is a savage league.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
22 Dec. 2025
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The fifth-place finisher also reveals the inspiration for her savage jury question to Savannah.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Predatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predatory. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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