Rapacious

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɹəˈpeɪ.ʃəs/

Definitions

  1. Marked by an intense, uncontrollable craving for gain or acquisition that drives one to seize resources through aggressive or exploitative methods
  2. Demonstrating an extreme hunger for wealth and property that manifests through predatory tactics and relentless pursuit of more
  3. Having a strong and insatiable desire for acquiring wealth or possessions by aggressive means

Etymology: In Jerome's Latin Bible, Jesus warns of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are "lupi rapaces." English translators made them "ravening wolves." Both the Latin adjective and the English one grow from the same root, the verb "rapere," to seize, snatch or carry off by force. Latin built "rapax" from that verb with the suffix "-ax," which marks a habit or inclination: "tenax," apt to hold on, from "tenere"; "audax," apt to dare; "vorax," apt to devour. A "rapax" creature was one that grabbed by nature, and the Romans used the word for wolves, birds of prey and plunderers alike. English took the abstract noun first. "Rapacity" appears in the 1540s, and rapacious followed in the 1650s, perhaps formed directly from it, giving it the same "-acious" shape as tenacious, audacious and voracious. From the start it described both predatory animals and greedy people, and the human sense, grasping after wealth and possessions, is the one that took hold. "Rapere" has scattered relatives across English, many of them unrecognisable. "Rapid" first meant tearing away, hence swift. "Rapt" and "rapture" describe being carried off, though by delight rather than force. Through French it gave "ravish," "ravenous," "rapine" and even "ravine," a place where water rushes violently. "Surreptitious" comes from "sub" and "rapere," to snatch from underneath, in secret. The most jarring relative is "rape," which for centuries kept its Latin sense of seizure and abduction. That older meaning explains the "Rape of the Sabine Women," and it explains Alexander Pope's comic poem "The Rape of the Lock" of 1712, in which the outrage is a baron snipping off a curl of a young woman's hair.

Synonyms: greedy, avaricious, insatiable, gluttonous, predatory

Antonyms: generous, satisfied, content, unselfish, benevolent