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
But eye-watering secondary market prices are an example of how desirable concerts have become a hot commodity for predatory re-sellers.
—
Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
The programs that once felt like partnerships are now predatory relationships designed to extract maximum value while delivering minimum benefits.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026
Grass lines in 8 to 15 feet of water make a perfect location for ambushing their prey and hiding from other predatory fish like muskies.
—Derek Horner, Outdoor Life, 2 Apr. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
The programs that once felt like partnerships are now predatory relationships designed to extract maximum value while delivering minimum benefits.
—Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026
Grass lines in 8 to 15 feet of water make a perfect location for ambushing their prey and hiding from other predatory fish like muskies.
—Derek Horner, Outdoor Life, 2 Apr. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for predatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predatory
Adjective
-
Sports franchises everywhere can be tacky, rapacious, incompetent, extortionate, and otherwise exploitative, but only because their customers, the fans, are essentially captives.—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
23 Apr. 2026
-
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
Adjective
-
Gregory Bovino, the controversial head of aggressive enforcement activities in Chicago and Minneapolis, resigned from the agency.—
Rick Pearson,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
-
That approach, paired with more outreach to Black residents, may help increase the city’s affordable housing stock and close the gap in Black homeownership, though some city council members have urged a more aggressive push on affordable housing.—
Lily Carey,
Baltimore Sun,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
Biological control: Parasitic wasps, predaceous beetles and birds assist in lowering sawfly populations.—
Rita Perwich,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
The front pair of legs is raptorial, meaning they are used for catching and grasping prey.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
22 Apr. 2026
-
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
Adjective
-
As Operation Midway Blitz began to wind down in the Chicago area last November, federal immigration agents launched a new and deadly surge of enforcement in Minneapolis in December and earlier this year.—
Rick Pearson,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Dehydration can be dangerous and downright deadly, and that's even more true for a senior.—
Aly Walansky,
Travel + Leisure,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Behind a ferocious defense and an offense that couldn’t miss, the Knicks led by 25 points after one quarter, by as many as 51 points in the first half, and by as many as 61 points after halftime.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
1 May 2026
-
Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap have always been ferocious rappers, two goliaths spitting bilingual bars over gritty electronica with the couplet-completing precision of Run the Jewels.—
Dean Van Nguyen,
Pitchfork,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
So much of marketing now that happens on the internet is this wild volume game where people are essentially spamming.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
27 Apr. 2026
-
But even wild gusts couldn’t keep these top acts down at the three-day event, which had people flocking to the Mane Stage to see headliners Cody Johnson (Friday), Lainey Wilson (Saturday) and Post Malone (Sunday).—
Charisma Madarang,
Rolling Stone,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This time playing an underling rather than a boss, Hoskins gave one of the best performances of his career in what remains a high point for Jordan as well, a lyrical and poignant yet savage film noir filled with regret, rage, and unrequited love.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
20 Apr. 2026
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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
Cite this Entry
“Predatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predatory. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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