as in rapacious
living by killing and eating other animals
hawks are predatory and pose a danger to rabbits and other pets
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of predatory
Crypto scams have already become a top-tier form of cybercrime, and there's no end in sight to the expansion of this predatory underworld industry.
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Wired Staff, WIRED, 30 Dec. 2024
Studies show that elderly female elephants are leaders, valued for their roles as caregivers for the young and for their experience and knowledge to evaluate predatory threats and make good decisions for the group.
—Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
Decades of racist redlining, predatory mortgage lending, and the criminalization of poverty have combined with a housing shortage to create an epidemic of Black homelessness.
—Carly Stern, Vox, 6 Dec. 2024
Bruer, 67, had served in at least 22 states and territories and seven countries since 1976, according to a timeline compiled by Pam Walton, a former member who has used historical records and photographs to track the movements of predatory preachers.
—CBS News, 16 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for predatory 
Wired Staff, WIRED, 30 Dec. 2024
Studies show that elderly female elephants are leaders, valued for their roles as caregivers for the young and for their experience and knowledge to evaluate predatory threats and make good decisions for the group.
—Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
Decades of racist redlining, predatory mortgage lending, and the criminalization of poverty have combined with a housing shortage to create an epidemic of Black homelessness.
—Carly Stern, Vox, 6 Dec. 2024
Bruer, 67, had served in at least 22 states and territories and seven countries since 1976, according to a timeline compiled by Pam Walton, a former member who has used historical records and photographs to track the movements of predatory preachers.
—CBS News, 16 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for predatory
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predatory
Adjective
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The 2012 campaign was marked by an early effort by Democrats to tar Mr. Romney as an insensitive, rapacious businessman willing to send jobs overseas.Jonathan Weisman, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2025
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Russia is cast as the anti-environmental destroyer, hell-bent on rapacious domination both of Ukraine and of the natural world.David Vetter, Forbes, 30 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Take London, which was a clear hotspot (and will continue to be, for some time): Mandarin Oriental opened its second spot in the capital, barely minutes in a limo from its existing Knightsbridge perch, while Maybourne’s soon-to-be aggressive expansion was teed up by the arrival of the sleek Emory.Christopher Cameron, Robb Report, 11 Jan. 2025
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Many tech companies built their AI products by training on creative works directly scraped from the Internet, using legal loopholes and aggressive policies to help themselves to data without seeking permission from creators or copyright holders.Rob Salkowitz, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Look for and conserve natural enemies such as predaceous bugs, lacewings, lady beetles, and syrphids.The San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Jan. 2025
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Biden officials are offering up to 30,000 migrants per month a two-year permit to live and work in the United States under the terms of the program, and say such legal pathways are successfully steering migrants toward a safer and more orderly option than the one offered by predacious smugglers.Nick Miroff, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Feb. 2023
Adjective
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Detailed testimonies of refugees along the Balkan route therefore challenge the conventional wisdom that officials tend to protect them from raptorial smugglers.Max Abrahms, Foreign Affairs, 22 Mar. 2017
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Damsel bugs are slender and tan-colored and have slightly raptorial front legs.Rita Perwich, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2023
Adjective
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In August, the main global body analyzing food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification's Famine Review Committee (FRC), warned that mass famine in Sudan fueled by the conflict could be on track to become the deadliest famine in over a decade.Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
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These dynamics are common in abusive relationships that turn deadly, experts say.Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Created by claymation animator Nick Park, Wallace & Gromit is a series of shorts and feature films which sees the naive inventor and his loyal dog embark on wild and whimsical adventures, ranging from science fiction to murder mystery, usually with a touch of horror.Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 9 Jan. 2025
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The scrappy theatrical love letter to this wild caper has been getting raves on the West End for two years.Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Follow more of our reporting on Deadly Dose Crime One Kansas police force’s approach to fighting fentanyl is driving down violent crime November 30, 2023 6:10 AM Government & Politics Missouri lawmakers push new charges for fentanyl dealers.Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2025
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The prospect of requiring harsher penalties for pot possession than most violent crimes gave some Republicans pause at the wide-ranging hearing, which lasted for more than two hours.Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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More than 12,000 homes have been destroyed by ferocious fires that have left at least 11 dead.Chantz Martin, Fox News, 12 Jan. 2025
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Those howling winds, measured at speeds approaching 100 mph, fueled the ferocious firestorms that followed.Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near predatory
Cite this Entry
“Predatory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predatory. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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