Predatory

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  predatory
       adj 1: characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding;
              "bands of marauding Indians"; "predatory warfare"; "a
              raiding party" [syn: {marauding}, {raiding}]
       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" [syn: {rapacious}, {raptorial}, {ravening}, {vulturine},
           {vulturous}]
       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 [syn: {predaceous}, {predacious}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  33 Moby Thesaurus words for "predatory":
     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