Rapacious

Definition: Greedy. Obsessed with acquiring money or possessions.

It’s from the base word “rapine,” which means “to seize” in Latin. A few words in Latin that being “rap-” have similar meanings.

• rapina: robbery
• rapere: to snatch
• rape: forcible sexual contact

Why I Looked It Up

In an episode of Buck Rogers, a race of aliens was described as “the most rapacious savages in the galaxy.”

Postscript

From The Tyranny of Clichés:

It was Hofstadter who argued that the robber barons had found an ideological rationalization for their rapacious ways in Social Darwinism.