RAPACIOUS • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Rapacious

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/rəpˈæʃɪs/ /rəpˈeɪʃɪs/ Listen

adjective

Rapacious adj.

Given to plunder; disposed or accustomed to seize by violence; seizing by force. " The downfall of the rapacious and licentious Knights Templar."

Accustomed to seize food; subsisting on prey, or animals seized by violence; as, a tiger is a rapacious animal; a rapacious bird.

Avaricious; grasping; extortionate; also, greedy; ravenous; voracious; as, rapacious usurers; a rapacious appetite. "(Thy Lord) redeem thee quite from Death's rapacious claim"

Synonyms: Greedy; grasping; ravenous; voracious.

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Etymology of 'Rapacious'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Rapacious" Quotes from Famous Books

... should not take a wider view of politics than was taken by men who had no objects out of Ireland. The few Irish Protestants who still adhered to him, and the British nobles, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who had followed him into exile, implored him to restrain the violence of the rapacious and vindictive senate which he had convoked. They with peculiar earnestness implored him not to consent to the repeal of the Act of Settlement. On what security, they asked, could any man invest his money or give a portion ...

— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 3 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... "there's nasty weather up there now, and beneath the boat goes he who was sitting along with you on the bottom of the boat just now. If it is wrecked, it will belong to us, and then you will not be able to speak to father to-day." As she said this there was a wild rapacious gleam in her eyes, but ...

— Weird Tales from Northern Seas • Jonas Lie

... the artful object of his pursuit as to see him breathe. Even then no alarm was exhibited; and the gentleman seizing a club, aimed a blow at him, which Reynard evaded by a leap from his singular lurking-place, having thus for a time effectually eluded his rapacious pursuers. ...

— A Hundred Anecdotes of Animals • Percy J. Billinghurst

... of the river-valleys is decidedly, rich and includes aquatic birds. The destruction of the forests and the advance of wheat into the prairies are rapidly impoverishing the Steppe fauna. The various species of rapacious animals are disappearing, together with the colonies of marmots; the insectivores are also becoming scarce in consequence of the destruction of insects, while vermin, such as the suslik (Spermophilus), become a real plague, as also the destructive insects ...

— Russia - As Seen and Described by Famous Writers • Various

... fruits of active toil or voluntary privation, have been confounded with those of expiatory bequest and mistaken devotion, and have alike become the prey of a rapacious and unfeeling government. Many communities are driven from habitations built absolutely with the produce of their own labour. In some places they were refused even their beds and linen; and the stock of wood, corn, &c. provided out of the savings of their pensions, (understood to be at ...

— A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, • An English Lady

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