rapacious
/ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/ adjective
- adjective (also figurative) Voracious; avaricious.
- adjective Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
- adjective (of an animal, usually a bird) Subsisting off live prey.
Synonyms
acquisitive avaricious cormorant covetous edacious esurient grasping greedy miserable piggish miserly selfish sordid sharp-set voracious predacious predatory raptorial ravening vulturine vulturous ravenous wolfish
Etymology
Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”) + -acious.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Given to plunder; disposed or accustomed to seize by violence; seizing by force. " The downfall of the rapacious and licentious Knights Templar." Motley.
- adjective Accustomed to seize food; subsisting on prey, or animals seized by violence,; as, a tiger is a rapacious animal; a rapacious bird.
Etymology [L. rapax, -acis, from rapere to seize and carry off, to snatch away. See Rapid.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rapacious”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details