predatory
adjective/ˈpredətri/
/ˈpredətɔːri/
- (specialist) (of animals) living by killing and eating other animalsTopics Animalsc2
- (of people) using weaker people for their own financial or sexual advantage
- a predatory insurance salesman
- a predatory look
Word Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to plundering’): from Latin praedatorius, from praedator ‘plunderer’, from praedat- ‘seized as plunder’, from the verb praedari ‘seize as plunder’, from praeda ‘booty’.
Check pronunciation:
predatory