Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ravening

/ˈɹævənɪŋ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.82 in modern English

Syllables: raven-ing
IPA: /ˈɹævənɪŋ/

12

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Voracious and greedy.

adj

Subject to the voracity of a predator.

Archaic

noun

Predation (by an animal); voracious eating or consumption.

Archaic; Literary

noun

Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion.

Example Sentences

"There is no shortage of ravening friends and relatives on the day one hits the lottery."
"1555, Richard Eden (translator), The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India by Pietro Martire d’Anghiera, London: Edward Sutton, Decade 3, Book 5, p. 116, They eate mans fleshe but seldome, bycause they meete not oftentymes with strangiers, except they goo foorth of theyr owne dominions with a mayne army of purpose to hunt for men, when theyr rauenynge appetite pricketh them forwarde."
"O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!"
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
"[…] then, when sunk on the down of usurped pomp, he shall have sufficiently indulged his meditations with what King he shall next glut his ravening maw […]"
"“Heart of wrought steel!” murmured Starbuck gazing over the side, and following with his eyes the receding boat—“canst thou yet ring boldly to that sight?—lowering thy keel among ravening sharks, and followed by them, open-mouthed to the chase; and this the critical third day? […]”"

Etymology

Present participle of the obsolete verb raven (“to prey”).

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈɹævənɪŋ/

Usage

Inflected Forms

more ravening (comparative) most ravening (superlative) ravenings (plural)

Derived Forms

raveningly

Synonyms

edacious esurient rapacious ravenous voracious wolfish predatory raptorial vulturine vulturous

Questions

How do you pronounce ravening?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɹævənɪŋ/.
What does ravening mean?: Voracious and greedy.
Where does ravening come from?: Present participle of the obsolete verb raven (“to prey”).

How to pronounce ravening

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “ravening”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɹævənɪŋ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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