voracious
/vɔːˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Wanting or devouring great quantities of food.
adj
Example Sentences
- "He is voracious by suppertime."
- "His appetite is voracious by suppertime."
- "I never had so much as […] one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages."
- "The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast."
- "Retreating before stronger breeds, hungry and voracious, the Eskimo has drifted to the inhospitable polar regions, the Pygmy to the fever-rotten jungles of Africa."
- "a voracious reader"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *gʷorh₃éh₂ Proto-Italic *worā Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin vorō Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂ks Proto-Italic *-āks Latin -āx Latin vorāx English -acious English voracious From Latin vorāx + English -acious. First attested in the 17th century.
Inflected Forms
more voracious (comparative)
most voracious (superlative)