Nearby Words

ravenous

[rav-uh-nuhs] Origin

rav·en·ous

[rav-uh-nuhs]
adjective
1.
extremely hungry; famished; voracious: feeling ravenous after a hard day's work.
2.
extremely rapacious: a ravenous jungle beast.
3.
intensely eager for gratification or satisfaction.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English < Old French ravineus, equivalent to ravin(er) to raven2 + -eus -ous

rav·en·ous·ly, adverb
rav·en·ous·ness, noun

ravenous, ravaging, ravishing (see synonym note at the current entry).


1. greedy, starved, devouring. Ravenous, ravening, voracious suggest a greediness for food and usually intense hunger. Ravenous implies extreme hunger, or a famished condition: ravenous wild beasts. Ravening adds the idea of fierceness and savagery, especially as shown in a violent manner of acquiring food: ravening wolves. Voracious implies craving or eating a great deal of food: a voracious child; a voracious appetite. It may also be used figuratively: a voracious reader. 2. predatory.


1. sated.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Ravenous is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
ravenous (ˈrævənəs)
 
adj
1.  famished; starving
2.  rapacious; voracious
 
[C16: from Old French ravineux, from Latin rapīna plunder, from rapere to seize]
 
'ravenously
 
adv
 
'ravenousness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ravenous
1412, "obsessed with plundering, extremely greedy," from O.Fr. ravinos "rapacious, violent," from raviner "to seize," from ravine "violent rush, robbery" (see ravine). Meaning "voracious, very hungry" is from c.1430.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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