voracious
English
editEtymology
editFrom Latin vorāx, from vorō (“I devour”).
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /vɔːˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/, /vəˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪʃəs
- Homophone: veracious
Adjective
editvoracious (comparative more voracious, superlative most voracious)
- (of a person or their appetite) Wanting or devouring great quantities of food.
- He is voracious by suppertime.
- His appetite is voracious by suppertime.
- 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
- I never had so much as […] one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages.
- 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 45, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
- The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast.
- 1917, Jack London, “The Human Drift”, in The Human Drift, New York: Macmillan, page 3:
- Retreating before stronger breeds, hungry and voracious, the Eskimo has drifted to the inhospitable polar regions, the Pygmy to the fever-rotten jungles of Africa.
- Having a great appetite for anything; eager.
- a voracious reader
- 1922, Walter Lippmann, chapter 7, in Public Opinion:
- If he carried chiefly his appetite, a zeal for tiled bathrooms, a conviction that the Pullman car is the acme of human comfort, and a belief that it is proper to tip waiters, taxicab drivers, and barbers, but under no circumstances station agents and ushers, then his Odyssey will be replete with good meals and bad meals, bathing adventures, compartment-train escapades, and voracious demands for money.
- 2005 August 29, Nathan Thornburgh, “The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies”, in Time:
- Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find.
Synonyms
edit- (devouring great quantities of food): See Thesaurus:voracious
- (having a great appetite for anything): See Thesaurus:eager
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editdevouring great quantities of food
|
having a great appetite for anything
|
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷerh₃-
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪʃəs
- Rhymes:English/eɪʃəs/3 syllables
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with collocations
- English terms with quotations