Rapacious
adj ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Voracious; avaricious. also, figuratively
"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.
"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 Subsisting off live prey.
"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[…]"
- 1 devouring or craving food in great quantities wordnet
- 2 excessively greedy and grasping wordnet
- 3 living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey wordnet
Example
More examples"Therefore, putting on one side imaginary things concerning a prince, and discussing those which are real, I say that all men when they are spoken of, and chiefly princes for being more highly placed, are remarkable for some of those qualities which bring them either blame or praise; and thus it is that one is reputed liberal, another miserly, using a Tuscan term (because an avaricious person in our language is still he who desires to possess by robbery, whilst we call one miserly who deprives himself too much of the use of his own); one is reputed generous, one rapacious; one cruel, one compassionate; one faithless, another faithful; one effeminate and cowardly, another bold and brave; one affable, another haughty; one lascivious, another chaste; one sincere, another cunning; one hard, another easy; one grave, another frivolous; one religious, another unbelieving, and the like."
Etymology
Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.