rapacious
Pronunciation
  • (British, America) IPA: /ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/
Adjective

rapacious

  1. Voracious; avaricious.
    • 1787, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 6: Concerning Dangers from Dissensions Between the States:
      To presume a want of motives for such contests [of power between states] as an argument against their existence, would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious.
  2. Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
    • 1910, Niccolò Machiavelli (translated by Ninian Hill Thomson), The Prince, Chapter XIX:
      A Prince [...] sooner becomes hated by being rapacious and by interfering with the property and with the women of his subjects, than in any other way.
  3. (of an animal, usually a bird) Subsisting off live prey.
    • 1827, James Fenimore Cooper, The Prairie, Chapter XIII:
      Even the rapacious birds appeared to comprehend the nature of the ceremony, for [...] they once more began to make their airy circuits above the place [...]
Synonyms Related terms Translations
  • French: rapace
  • German: unersättlich
  • Portuguese: voraz
  • Russian: жадный
  • Spanish: codicioso
Translations Translations


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