'Predatory' definitions:
Definition of 'predatory'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding; "bands of marauding Indians"; "predatory warfare"; "a raiding party" [syn: marauding, predatory, raiding]
adjective
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" [syn: predatory, rapacious, raptorial, ravening, vulturine, vulturous]
adjective
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 [syn: predaceous, predacious, predatory]
Definition of 'Predatory'
From: 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]
Synonyms of 'predatory'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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