Meaning of PREDATORY
| Pronunciation: | | 'predu`towree
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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- [adj] living by or given to victimizing others for personal gain; "predatory capitalists"; "a predatory, insensate society in which innocence and decency can prove fatal"- Peter S. Prescott; "a predacious kind of animal--the early geological gangster"- W.E.Swinton
- [adj] living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey; "a predatory bird"; "the rapacious wolf"; "raptorial birds"; "ravening wolves"; "a vulturine taste for offal"
- [adj] characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding; "bands of marauding Indians"; "predatory warfare"; "a raiding party"
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| | Synonyms: | | acquisitive, aggressive, marauding, offensive, predaceous, predacious, raiding, rapacious, raptorial, ravening, vulturine, vulturous |
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| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | \Pred"a*to*ry\, a. [L. praedatorius, fr. praedari to
plunder, fr. praeda prey. See {Prey}.]
1. Characterized by plundering; practicing rapine;
plundering; pillaging; as, a predatory excursion; a
predatory party. ``A predatory war.'' --Macaulay.
2. Hungry; ravenous; as, predatory spirits. [Obs.]
Exercise . . . maketh the spirits more hot and
predatory. --Bacon.
3. (Zo["o]l.) Living by preying upon other animals;
carnivorous.
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| Thesaurus Terms |
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| | Related Terms: | | all-devouring, all-engulfing, avaricious, bloodsucking, carnivorous, despoiling, extortionate, grabby, grasping, greedy, larcenous, looting, lupine, marauding, parasitic, pillaging, plundering, plunderous, predacious, rapacious, raptorial, ravaging, ravening, ravenous, robbing, sharkish, spoliatory, thieving, usurious, voracious, vulturine, vulturous, wolfish |
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