predatory Hear it!

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

predatory Related Forms

pred′a·to′·rily adverb pred′a·to′·ri·ness noun

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.

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.
  • mite: VAT & Delivery Just Spider Mite Killer - in 10 bags Bags contain 250 predatory mites per sachet.
  • instinct: For he shouldn't forget the predatory instinct can work both ways.
  • pricing: In each instance the Office found that allegations of predatory pricing were not proven.
  • dinosaur: Question Bearing in mind all the caveats in the previous question, what was the biggest predatory dinosaur?
  • beetle: There were also fewer birds and predatory carabid beetles that feed on weed seeds in transgenic fields.

Modifying Another Word

  • sexually: He had a penchant for painting half- length figures of malicious sexually predatory women.
  • even: The two eyeholes in the head piece have a stern, even predatory character.
  • highly: In a few sinister incidents, you might be lured to a dangerous appointment by someone with a highly predatory agenda.
  • very: I think ' Gray Panthers ' sounds very predatory!

Used with adjective complement

sound: I think ' Gray Panthers ' sounds very predatory!