predatory

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to predatory: predatory behavior

pred·a·to·ry

(prĕd′ə-tôr′ē)

adj.

1. Living or characterized by preying on other animals: a predatory insect; predatory instincts.

a. Living or characterized by plundering, pillaging, or marauding.

b. Living or characterized by the exploitation of others for personal gain: predatory business practices.

[Latin praedātōrius, plundering, from praedārī, to plunder, from praeda, booty; see ghend- in Indo-European roots.]

pred′a·to′ri·ly adv.

pred′a·to′ri·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

predatory

(ˈprɛdətərɪ; -trɪ)

adj

1. (Zoology) zoology another word for predacious¹

2. of, involving, or characterized by plundering, robbing, etc

[C16: from Latin praedātōrius rapacious, from praedārī to pillage, from praeda booty]

ˈpredatorily adv

ˈpredatoriness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pred•a•to•ry

(ˈprɛd əˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i)

adj.

1. preying upon other organisms for food.

2. characterized by plunder, robbery, or exploitation: predatory tactics.

3. engaging in or living by these activities: predatory bands of brigands.

4. acting with or indicative of rapacious, greedy, or selfish motives.

[1580–90; < Latin praedātōrius. See predator, -tory¹]

pred`a•to′ri•ly, adv.

pred′a•to`ri•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.	1.	predatory - characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding; "bands of marauding Indians"; "predatory warfare"; "a raiding party" marauding, raiding offensive - for the purpose of attack rather than defense; "offensive weapons"
	2.	predatory - 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" rapacious, ravening, vulturine, vulturous, raptorial aggressive - having or showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends; "an aggressive businessman"; "an aggressive basketball player"; "he was aggressive and imperious; positive in his convictions"; "aggressive drivers"
	3.	predatory - 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 predaceous, predacious acquisitive - eager to acquire and possess things especially material possessions or ideas; "an acquisitive mind"; "an acquisitive society in which the craving for material things seems never satisfied"

predatory

adjective

1. hunting, ravening, carnivorous, rapacious, raptorial, predacious predatory birds like the eagle

2. plundering, ravaging, pillaging, marauding, thieving, despoiling predatory gangs

3. rapacious, greedy, voracious, vulturous, vulturine predatory business practices

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

مُفْتَرِس، ضار

dravý

αρπακτικός

prédateur

rán-

da preda predatorio rapace

rov-

dravý

avcı yırtıcı

捕食其它动物的肉食的

predatory

[ˈpredətərɪ] ADJ [animal] → depredador; [bird] → de presa, rapaz; [person] → rapaz; [look] → devorador

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

predatory

[ˈprɛdətəri] adj

[bird, fish, animal] → prédateur/trice

[company, man, woman] → prédateur/trice

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

predatory

adj

(= involving killing) attack, tribe, behaviour → räuberisch; predatory animal → Raubtier nt; predatory instinct → Raubtierinstinkt m

(financially etc) person, behaviour → raubtierhaft

(sexually) person → raubtierhaft; he has a predatory attitude toward(s) all the girls in the office → er betrachtet alle Mädchen im Büro als Freiwild

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

predatory

[ˈprɛdət/ərɪ] adj (animal) → rapace, predatore/trice; (habits, army) → rapace; (person, look) → avido/a, cupido/a

predator

(ˈpredətə) noun

a bird, eg a hawk, or animal, eg a lion, that attacks and kills others for food.

ˈpredatory adjective

living by attacking and feeding on others. a predatory animal.

References in classic literature ?

-Black Hills.- Rocky Mountains.- Wandering and Predatory Hordes.

Some may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude and migratory people, half shepherd, half warrior, who, with their flocks and herds, roam the plains of upper Asia; but others, it is to be apprehended, will become predatory bands, mounted on the fleet steeds of the prairies, with the open plains for their marauding grounds, and the mountains for their retreats and lurking-places.

View in context

They had to traverse the most dreary and desolate mountains, and barren and trackless wastes, uninhabited by man, or occasionally infested by predatory and cruel savages.

The Crows and Blackfeet, who were such terrors in the path of the early adventurers to Astoria, still continue their predatory habits, but seem to have brought them to greater system.

View in context

A dolorous place it was, this canoe house, filled with groans and sighs, corpses beneath the floor and composing the floor, creatures soon to be corpses upon the floor, corpses swinging in aerial sepulchre overhead, long black canoes, high-ended like beaked predatory monsters, dimly looming in the light of a slow fire where sat an ancient of the tribe of Somo at his interminable task of smoke-curing a bushman's head.

View in context

War, therefore, would be desultory and predatory. PLUNDER and devastation ever march in the train of irregulars.

View in context

Beaks that could break and rend and tear--all the birds represented were of a predatory kind.

View in context

In order to face the constant danger of hurt and even of destruction, his predatory and protective faculties were unduly developed.

View in context

And Herbert had seen him as a predatory Tartar of comic propensities, with a face like a red brick, and an outrageous hat all over bells.

View in context

They had had sufficient experience with the fighting tactics of the new Waziri chief not to have the slightest desire to accompany another predatory force within the boundaries of his domain.

View in context

The inhabitants of the Atlantic frontier are all of them deeply interested in this provision for naval protection, and if they have hitherto been suffered to sleep quietly in their beds; if their property has remained safe against the predatory spirit of licentious adventurers; if their maritime towns have not yet been compelled to ransom themselves from the terrors of a conflagration, by yielding to the exactions of daring and sudden invaders, these instances of good fortune are not to be ascribed to the capacity of the existing government for the protection of those from whom it claims allegiance, but to causes that are fugitive and fallacious.

View in context

Reviewers were able to correctly guess the category of the articles they reviewed 81 percent of the time (39/50 for predatory journals; 42/50 for non-predatory journals).