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as in predatory
living by killing and eating other animals rapacious mammals, such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of rapacious Of abuse and coercion by rapacious family members eager to get their hands on an inheritance. Teri Sforza, Orange County Register, 25 Mar. 2025 If anything, his regime grew more predatory, more rapacious, more violent in the past few years. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024 The rapacious Chicago Teachers Union took advantage of an inexperienced Mayor Lori Lightfoot, ramming legislation through Springfield phasing out mayoral control of public schools. Forrest Claypool, Chicago Tribune, 14 Mar. 2025 Such support might marginally improve Chad’s rapacious security sector. Nathaniel K. Powell, Foreign Affairs, 1 Feb. 2016 See All Example Sentences for rapacious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapacious
Adjective
  • Conservatives, in their minds, are just always evil, mean, greedy, bad demons.
    Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 16 May 2025
  • Here’s some truth that many women are not accustomed to hearing: wanting to be wealthy is not greedy.
    Melissa Houston, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025
Adjective
  • The extent of that predatory behavior became starkly evident when Ventura described how Combs allegedly raped her in the living room of her LA apartment in 2018.
    Dominic Patten, Deadline, 19 May 2025
  • Bars shouldn’t let people buy drinks for strangers and shouldn’t facilitate this very outdated—and quite frankly predatory—practice.
    Hana Asbrink, Bon Appetit Magazine, 13 May 2025
Adjective
  • Top Gun is streaming on Paramount+ and Prime Video, while Top Gun: Maverick is streaming on Paramount+. ‘Willow’ (1988) Val Kilmer stars as the mercenary Madmartigan opposite his then-real-life wife, Joanne Whalley as Sorsha, the daughter of the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) in Willow.
    Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 2025
  • And how to be optimally developmental and transactional in an increasingly mercenary environment.
    Vahe Gregorian, Kansas City Star, 13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • No one’s allowed to eat carbs on-site, forcing the ravenous grounds crew to sneak bagels behind a shed.
    Caroline Framke, Vulture, 22 May 2025
  • Is the merger of Charter and Cox a last gasp to fend off their ravenous competitors and avoid the business equivalent of viral collapse?
    Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 20 May 2025
Adjective
  • The comedy-drama follows a Gen Z content creator who returns to her ancestral home seeking viral material, only to encounter her deceased brother’s ghost while dealing with avaricious relatives.
    Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 14 Apr. 2025
  • This nation state, my home, is built on a quagmire of lies sold to the young as truths; sold to the insecure as truths; sold by the avaricious, the power-hungry, the conceited, the overwhelmingly white and male.
    Christine Winter, Artforum, 1 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Like Sánchez, many Chicago-area Catholics are making the nearly 4,000-mile pilgrimage to the Vatican to witness the inauguration Mass and other papal events this month, eager to celebrate one of their own rising to become Catholicism’s spiritual leader.
    Angie Leventis Lourgos, Chicago Tribune, 17 May 2025
  • Sometimes the person accepting the soft promotion is eager to move up the ladder.
    Dr. Diane Hamilton, Forbes.com, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • Over its history OpenText has been an highly acquisitive company to build out its software stack.
    GuruFocus, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Banijay has been among the most acquisitive independent TV makers of recent years, and now reportedly has its sights on ITV.
    Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 27 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Rapacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapacious. Accessed 28 May. 2025.

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