Synonyms of rapacious

rapacious

adjective

rə-ˈpā-shəs 

1

as in greedy

having a huge appetite

nothing livens things up like a whole team of rapacious basketball players descending upon the pizza parlor

Synonyms & Similar Words

• greedy
• ravenous
• voracious
• gluttonous
• piggish
• hungry
• hoggish
• starving
• starved
• swinish
• edacious
• esurient
• wolfish
• insatiable
• devouring
• unquenchable
• gobbling
• famished
• hearty
• gorging
• gormandizing
• underfed
• malnourished
• undernourished
• peckish
• gulping
• unslakable
• empty

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• satisfied
• full
• content
• stuffed
• glutted
• satiated
• sated

2

as in predatory

living by killing and eating other animals

rapacious mammals, such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats

Synonyms & Similar Words

• predatory
• aggressive
• ferocious
• raptorial
• predaceous
• wild
• deadly
• savage
• carnivorous
• violent
• fierce
• untamed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• herbivorous
• gentle
• tame
• submissive
• vegetarian

3

as in mercenary

having or marked by an eager and often selfish desire especially for material possessions

rapacious plunderers who despoiled the tombs in the ancient pyramids

Synonyms & Similar Words

• greedy
• mercenary
• avaricious
• eager
• acquisitive
• covetous
• avid
• grasping
• coveting
• moneygrubbing
• grabby
• desirous
• ravenous
• materialistic
• insatiable
• miserly
• piggish
• gluttonous
• hoggish
• voracious
• egocentric
• unquenchable
• devouring
• piggy
• discontented
• unsatisfied
• swinish
• grudging
• lickerish
• commercialistic
• itchy
• egotistic
• egoistic
• resentful
• self-centered
• discontent
• malcontent
• gobbling
• begrudging
• philistine
• self-seeking

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• generous
• liberal
• altruistic
• handsome
• charitable
• magnanimous
• unselfish
• bountiful
• munificent
• selfless
• bounteous
• controlled
• unsparing
• restrained
• moderate
• nonmaterialistic
• temperate
• content
• openhanded
• satisfied
• openhearted
• sated
• freehanded
• greathearted

Synonym Chooser

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

Some common synonyms of rapacious are gluttonous, ravenous, and voracious. While all these words mean "excessively greedy," rapacious often suggests excessive and utterly selfish acquisitiveness or avarice.

rapacious developers indifferent to environmental concerns

When can gluttonous be used instead of rapacious?

Although the words gluttonous and rapacious have much in common, 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 could ravenous be used to replace rapacious?

The synonyms ravenous and rapacious are sometimes interchangeable, but 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

When might voracious be a better fit than rapacious?

The meanings of voracious and rapacious largely overlap; however, voracious applies especially to habitual gorging with food or drink.

teenagers are often voracious eaters

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of rapacious

Under his leadership, the paper led a long and ultimately successful fight to end the rapacious practice of hydraulic mining that literally destroyed mountains and ruined Central Valley watersheds. —Seán McMahon, Sacbee.com, 23 Jan. 2026

Heaving on the shore after nearly being taken under the rapacious waves, Byrne is released from a moribund procession of sound and light. —Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025

His reconstruction drive intends to normalize this political reality and the pursuit of unrestrained, rapacious fossil fuel extractivism when climate change is intensifying. —Nabil Salih, Time, 4 Dec. 2025

Back in the 1990s, Republicans put a muzzle on the most rapacious lawyers and passed laws to protect businesses from the most outrageous harassment lawsuits. —Stephen Moore, Boston Herald, 1 Dec. 2025