1
as in shrews
a bad-tempered scolding woman
in fairy tales stepmothers are often portrayed as harpies who make the lives of their stepchildren miserable
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2
as in predators
a person who habitually preys upon others
having just started to make it really big in the music business, he found himself surrounded by a flock of harpies greedy for a piece of the action
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Recent Examples of harpies
In the right-wing imagination, these women are acting like harpies — an epithet often seen online — when they’re supposed to be helpmeets.
—
Michelle Goldberg, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies.
—Sam Cochran, Architectural Digest, 11 Aug. 2025
Michelle Goldberg, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
Think a front desk hewn from Dionysos marble and sconces in the shape of harpies.
—Sam Cochran, Architectural Digest, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpies
Noun
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The tiny bodies of weasels, shrews and bats burn energy so fast that skipping even one meal can mean starvation.—
Leonie Baier,
The Conversation,
27 Feb. 2026
-
In animal studies, TDN helped obese mice and musk shrews lose weight and become more responsive to insulin.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Since arriving, the snakes have become top predators in the ecosystem and are severely reducing native mammal populations.—
Hanna Wickes,
Kansas City Star,
28 Apr. 2026
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These snakes have become top predators in the ecosystem and are severely reducing native mammal populations.—
Hanna Wickes,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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By the final showdown, the production has made use of every bit of stage space, with sensational flying sequences (choreographed by Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant) that allow the vampires to float, hover, and—in one especially intense moment—dive from that bridge.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
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Beyond that, non-phantom, non-Dracula vampires aren’t terribly over-exposed in the Broadway genre.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Overhead, vultures, crows and gulls swarmed, feeding on carcasses and insects and other waste.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
15 Apr. 2026
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The Yurok Tribe is leading the effort to bring the large, endangered vultures back to their historic homeland in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.—
Lila Seidman,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Harpies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpies. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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