Word of the Day

: March 15, 2013

voracious

adjective vaw-RAY-shus

What It Means

1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous

2 : excessively eager : insatiable

voracious in Context

Cemal is a voracious reader who whips through three or four books each week.

"Hundreds of Humboldt squid washed up on Santa Cruz County beaches Sunday in a mass stranding that is not uncommon but remains somewhat of a mystery to marine scientists. The even more intriguing question, they say, is why the voracious feeders, also called jumbo flying squid, began venturing up to the Central Coast in 2000 from the Sea of Cortez and other warmer spots-and what their effect is on the ocean environment." - From an article by Cathy Kelly in Contra Costa Times, December 11, 2012

Did You Know?

"Voracious" is one of several English words that derive from the Latin verb "vorare," which means "to eat greedily" or "to devour." "Vorare" is also an ancestor of "devour" and of the "-ivorous" words that describe the diets of various animals. These include "carnivorous" ("meat-eating"), "herbivorous" ("plant-eating"), "omnivorous" ("feeding on both animals and plants"), "frugivorous" ("fruit-eating"), "graminivorous" ("feeding on grass"), and "piscivorous" ("fish-eating").