How to Use prey on/upon in a Sentence

prey on/upon

phrasal verb
  • They’ve been known to scale or dig beneath fences to prey on pets.
    Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024
  • But the curse of the castle continues to prey on his mind.
    EW.com, 8 July 2024
  • On land, birds, crabs, and small mammals prey on eggs and hatchlings.
    Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 6 Mar. 2024
  • This is due to that area's seal population, which the sharks prey on.
    Ronn Blitzer, Fox News, 30 June 2022
  • Wolves kill some livestock and hunting dogs each year as well as prey on deer and elk.
    Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 1 Dec. 2022
  • Hawks and owls prey on rodents bounding across grassy slopes.
    Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2024
  • Live birds of prey on display during the breakfast hours.
    The Indianapolis Star, 26 July 2024
  • Tiger sharks are one of the most fierce species in its genus, measure about 15 feet long and often prey on turtles.
    Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 7 June 2024
  • The case leads them down a rabbit hole where rich predators prey on the innocent.
    Sun Sentinel, 24 Jan. 2023
  • Under these circumstances, killer whales have been known to hunt and prey on moose.
    Scott Travers, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024
  • Other big cats and eagles are known to prey on cheetahs.
    Claudia Dominguez, CNN, 18 Feb. 2023
  • During their journey, terns must watch out for raptors and gulls that might prey on them.
    Scott Travers, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
  • The king of the dinosaurs may have not been the only Cretaceous carnivore to prey on its own kin.
    Alex Orlando, Discover Magazine, 1 May 2024
  • How do Burmese pythons eat? Burmese pythons prey on mammals, birds and other reptiles.
    Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY, 25 June 2024
  • That’s because there are so many animals that prey on smolts.
    oregonlive, 27 Aug. 2023
  • As the dead awaken and prey on the living, a group of people take shelter at a farmhouse and try to survive a very dark night.
    Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, 19 Aug. 2022
  • High transaction fees add to worries that they can be used to prey on poor people.
    Amrith Ramkumar, WSJ, 25 Aug. 2022
  • Of the species humans prey on, almost 40 percent are threatened.
    Emily Harwitz, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 July 2023
  • With a playful touch and a light choke, her work turns traditional notions of hunter and prey on their head.
    Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 18 Oct. 2024
  • These arthropods are more likely to prey on ticks when they are fully engorged with blood.
    Paul Richards, Field & Stream, 9 Nov. 2023
  • There is no reason this person should ever be set free again to prey on others.
    Greg Wehner, Fox News, 12 Mar. 2024
  • The deer caught on camera likely had been swimming for its life, as gators have been known to prey on them and smaller mammals.
    Simone Jasper The Charlotte Observer (tns), al, 4 May 2023
  • Wolves also prey on livestock in the agriculture-rich West.
    Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 23 Aug. 2023
  • Once the parasite decides to prey on your dog, the substance activates in its body.
    Laxmi Corp, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 July 2022
  • Birds prey on dragonflies, but Burne said he’s also seen fish jump out of the water and take dragonflies from the air.
    Don Lyman, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Aug. 2022
  • But overall the new research found that only about half of the species humans prey on end up being eaten.
    Lesley Evans Ogden, Scientific American, 29 June 2023
  • Wolverines in North America rarely prey on livestock and aren’t a threat to humans.
    Christine Peterson, Vox, 5 Aug. 2024
  • She is not used to hulking radroaches that prey upon human-size meals.
    Jack King, Vulture, 11 Apr. 2024
  • The bears are more likely to prey on live ungulates during the spring calving season.
    Travis Hall, Field & Stream, 13 July 2023
  • Anyone living in a big city knows the increasing nervousness as phone snatchers on bikes and e-scooters prey on victims walking sidewalks.
    Zak Doffman, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'prey on/upon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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