Literary notes about rapacious (AI summary)
In literature, the word rapacious is employed to invoke a sense of insatiable greed or predatory appetite, whether describing human behavior or the natural world. Authors use it to characterize individuals—ranging from crude, greedy clowns to tyrannical rulers whose rapacious hunger for wealth and power oppresses communities ([1], [2], [3])—while also attributing the same voracity to animals and even insects ([4], [5]). Its usage extends beyond mere material greed, often symbolizing a broader moral or societal decay, as characters or institutions are depicted as rapacious in their exploitation and domination ([6], [7]).
- Out of all measure impudent and rapacious my gratitude has made you clowns!...
— from The Wagnerian Romances by Gertrude Hall Brownell - As soon as the Romans had satisfied the rapacious demands of Alaric, they were restored, in some measure, to the enjoyment of peace and plenty.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - King John perceived the great wealth of the religious houses, especially of the Cistercians, and began to lay hold of it with a rapacious hand.
— from Fountains Abbey: The story of a mediæval monastery by George Hodges - Accipitres (ak-sip′i-trēz), the name given by Linnæus and Cuvier to the rapacious birds now usually called Raptores (q.v.).
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various - The Head of Mantis This illustration clearly shows the cruel rat-trap-like front legs of the rapacious mantis.
— from The Romance of the Microscope An interesting description of its uses in all branches of science, industry, agriculture, and in the detection of crime, with a short account of its origin, history, and development by C. A. (Charles Aubrey) Ealand - But the fair and reasonable proportion was soon violated by the rapacious arts of monopoly.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - By widespread ancient rumour are they styled A people blind, rapacious, envious, vain: See by their manners thou be not defiled.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
