Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday November 26, 2003
rapacious \ruh-PAY-shuhs\
, adjective:
1. Given to plunder; seizing by force.
2. Subsisting on prey.
3. Grasping; greedy.
In the course of the 1650s they became progressively disenchanted with Cromwell's regime, disliking the compromises with the old order and hating what had become a rapacious army that seemed interested solely in its own well-being and future.
-- James Walvin, The Quakers
Osbert gallantly defended the reputation of his forebear in his autobiography but she remains one of the most rapacious harpies ever to have plundered the royal coffers.
-- Philip Ziegler, Osbert Sitwell
The insurance companies responded by pointing to a handful of rapacious residents who claimed they'd lost possessions, even entire floors of houses, that in fact had never existed.
-- David L. Kirp, Almost Home
Rapacious comes from Latin rapax, rapac-, "seizing, grasping, greedy," from rapere, "to seize, to snatch."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for rapacious
