predatory

/'predətəri/
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predatory

A predatory hawk swoops down to catch a field mouse.

Definition
  1. Adjective:
    • Living by preying on other organisms: Describes animals that hunt, kill, and eat other animals for food.
    • Seeking to exploit or victimize others for personal gain: Describes people, organizations, or behaviors that unfairly use, deceive, or harm others for selfish advantage, often in financial or social contexts.
    • Characterized by plundering or pillaging: Relating to violent theft, especially in the context of war or banditry.
Examples of Usage
  • Describing animals:
    • The hawk is a predatory bird, swooping down to catch mice.
    • Lions are predatory animals at the top of the food chain.
  • Describing exploitative behavior:
    • The company was accused of predatory lending practices that trapped people in debt.
    • He warned against the predatory tactics of some door-to-door salesmen.
  • Describing plundering:
    • The predatory raids by the invaders left the villages in ruins.
Advanced Usage
  • "Predatory pricing": An economic strategy where a company sets prices extremely low to drive competitors out of the market.
    • The large corporation was investigated for predatory pricing.
  • "Predatory instinct": The natural impulse to hunt or pursue.
    • The cat watched the bird with predatory instinct.
Variants and Related Words
  • Predator (n): An animal that lives by killing and eating other animals; a person or group that ruthlessly exploits others.
    • The wolf is a natural predator.
    • He was a predator in the business world.
  • Predation (n): The act of preying on other organisms; the act of plundering or victimizing.
    • The study focused on the effects of bird predation on insect populations.
Synonyms
  • Rapacious: Excessively greedy and predatory.
  • Predacious: Another term for predatory, especially regarding animals.
  • Marauding: Going about in search of things to steal or people to attack.
  • Vulturine: Resembling a vulture, especially in being greedy or predatory.
Related Phrases
  • "Predatory behavior": Actions intended to exploit, harm, or dominate a weaker party.
    • The new law aims to curb predatory behavior in the housing market.
  • "Turn predatory": To become aggressively exploitative.
    • The friendly takeover attempt suddenly turned predatory.
Related Idioms
  • "A wolf in sheep's clothing": Someone who hides a malicious or predatory nature behind a harmless appearance. (This idiom conveys a similar concept of deceptive harm.)
    • Be careful; that charming investor might be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
predatory

A predatory hawk swoops down to catch a field mouse.

Adjective
  1. 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
  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
  3. characterized by plundering or pillaging or marauding
    • bands of marauding Indians
    • predatory warfare
    • a raiding party

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