rapacious
/ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.39 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
adj
Subsisting off live prey.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Relations between the Waveney Valley Railway and the E.C.R. [Eastern Counties Railway] soon became strained, because of the rapacious attitude adopted by the latter, and to the mismanagement which it displayed in working the smaller company's line."
- "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."
- "The rapacious maw of our despair"
- "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."
- "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[…]"
Etymology
Perhaps from rapacity + -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rapāx (“grasping, greedy”) + -acious.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/
- British English: /ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/
Inflected Forms
more rapacious (comparative)
most rapacious (superlative)