as in greed
an intense selfish desire for wealth or possessions
the rapacity of the Spanish conquistadors was such that they were undeterred by the very preposterousness of the legend of El Dorado
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Recent Examples of rapacity
Unlike the specialized literary magazine and its informal cousin, the literary blog, the general-interest newspaper has a kind of noble rapacity, an encyclopedic ambition to wrap its arms around the whole of the world.
—
Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2026
Trump’s entire doctrine is naked rapacity, from Venezuela to hijacking the Kennedy Center to hideously remaking the White House in his own gaudy image.
—Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 21 Jan. 2026
In recent books, French has borrowed elements of the western genre to explore corporate rapacity in the era of climate change and looked at life in a small Irish village with the ear to both insider and outsider.
—Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjacent to the Gold Room was the Bravo Bazaar, a mall of real commercial rapacity.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
The rapacity with which Edmund followed his prey is painful to read: To extort money from the merchant haberdasher Thomas Sunnyff and his wife, Agnes, for example, Edmund framed them for infanticide and threw them in jail.
—Catherine Ostler, WSJ, 24 Mar. 2023
Nor has there ever been a time when the link between our rapacity and our present misery has felt as clear.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2023
For decades, sustainability efforts have focused on repair rather than renewal; at the same time, technological progress has plundered natural resources with increasing rapacity, and labor costs have outpaced material costs.
—Longreads, 23 Sep. 2022
Or consider the explorers who left a cold and hungry Europe in search of tropical riches, only to realize that their own rapacity could quickly exhaust the bounty of an island paradise.
—Deborah R. Coen, Foreign Affairs, 12 Feb. 2014
Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2026
Trump’s entire doctrine is naked rapacity, from Venezuela to hijacking the Kennedy Center to hideously remaking the White House in his own gaudy image.
—Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 21 Jan. 2026
In recent books, French has borrowed elements of the western genre to explore corporate rapacity in the era of climate change and looked at life in a small Irish village with the ear to both insider and outsider.
—Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjacent to the Gold Room was the Bravo Bazaar, a mall of real commercial rapacity.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 17 Nov. 2023
The rapacity with which Edmund followed his prey is painful to read: To extort money from the merchant haberdasher Thomas Sunnyff and his wife, Agnes, for example, Edmund framed them for infanticide and threw them in jail.
—Catherine Ostler, WSJ, 24 Mar. 2023
Nor has there ever been a time when the link between our rapacity and our present misery has felt as clear.
—Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 16 Feb. 2023
For decades, sustainability efforts have focused on repair rather than renewal; at the same time, technological progress has plundered natural resources with increasing rapacity, and labor costs have outpaced material costs.
—Longreads, 23 Sep. 2022
Or consider the explorers who left a cold and hungry Europe in search of tropical riches, only to realize that their own rapacity could quickly exhaust the bounty of an island paradise.
—Deborah R. Coen, Foreign Affairs, 12 Feb. 2014
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rapacity
greed
Noun
-
Far from corporate greed or anticompetitive behavior, competitive discounts driven by volume and supply chain efficiencies fuel free markets, helping families save money on groceries, appliances, TVs, cellphones, computers and cars.—
Stephen Moore,
Boston Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
-
That conversation turned into a broader, more impassioned look into the singer’s environmental views, from battling corporate greed and his conversations with Jane Goodall to disagreements with Elon Musk on the need to colonize Mars.—
Ethan Millman,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rapacity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rapacity. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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