rapacious
English
WOTD – 14 August 2008
Etymology
Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”).
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪʃəs
Adjective
rapacious (comparative more rapacious, superlative most rapacious)
- (also figuratively) Voracious; avaricious.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:greedy
- 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.
- 2021 March 16, Noam Cohen, “Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up”, in Wired, ISSN 1059-1028:
- Big Tech companies, on the other hand, have proven themselves to be rapacious capitalists—they take as much as they can and ask for permission later.
- Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
- 1910, Niccolò Machiavelli, “Chapter XIX”, in Ninian Hill Thomson, transl., The Prince:
- 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.
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- (of an animal, usually a bird) Subsisting off live prey.
- 1827, James Fenimore Cooper, “Chapter XIII”, in The Prairie:
- 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 […]
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Usage notes
- The use of this term for animals other than birds is dated.
Related terms
- rapaciously
- rapaciousness
- rapacity
Translations
avaricious
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given to take by force
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which subsists off live prey
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