predatory

Adjective
Synonyms: maraudingraidingrapaciousraptorialraveningvulturinevulturouspredaceouspredacious

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (3)

  1. characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding“bands of marauding Indians”“predatory warfare”“a raiding party”Synonyms: maraudingraiding
  2. 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”Synonyms: rapaciousraptorialraveningvulturinevulturous
  3. 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”Synonyms: predaceouspredacious
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Predatory \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. [1913 Webster]

2.Hungry; ravenous; as, predatory spirits. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Exercise . . . maketh the spirits more hot and predatory.— Bacon.[1913 Webster]

3.(Zool.) Living by preying upon other animals; carnivorous. [1913 Webster]

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