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
Added on 2023-0706
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.