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predatory definition

preda·tory (pred′ə tôr′ē)

adjective

  1. of, living by, or characterized by plundering, robbing, or exploiting others
  2. living by capturing and feeding upon other animals; predacious

Etymology: L praedatorius < praeda, prey

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

predatory Synonyms

predatory

modif.

  1. Preying on other animals

    voracious, carnivorous, omnivorous, rapacious, predacious, raptorial, ravening, wolfish, bloodthirsty; see also greedy 2, hungry, rapacious 2.

  2. Plundering

    marauding, pillaging, looting, rapacious.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

predatory Usage Examples

Preposition: on

  • invertebrate: Both adults and larvae are predatory on small invertebrates.

Modifies a noun

  • pedophiles: Not for the first time with predatory pedophiles, I'm a little disappointed.

Modifying Another Word

  • sexually: He had a penchant for painting half- length figures of malicious sexually predatory women.

Used with adjective complement

  • sound: I think ' Gray Panthers ' sounds very predatory!
predatory usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"predatory." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/predatory>

APA Style

predatory. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/predatory

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