Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Extremely hungry or characterized by extreme hunger; voracious.
  • adjective Predatory or ferocious in predation.
  • adjective Eager for gratification or extremely desirous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Furiously voracious; hungry even to rage; devouring with rapacious eagerness: as, a ravenous wolf, lion, or vulture; to be ravenous with hunger.
  • Greedily eager for gratification; tending to rapacity or voracity: as, ravenous appetite or desire.
  • Synonyms Voracious, etc. See rapacious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Devouring with rapacious eagerness; furiously voracious; hungry even to rage.
  • adjective Eager for prey or gratification.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Very hungry.
  • adjective Eager for prey or gratification.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective devouring or craving food in great quantities
  • adjective extremely hungry

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French ravineux, from raviner, to take by force, from Vulgar Latin *rapīnāre, from Latin rapīna, plunder; see rapine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French ravineus.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ravenous.

Examples

  • He’d been hungry himself before, but he’d never understood the term ravenous until he watched her eat.

    Deadly Promises Sherrilyn Kenyon 2010

  • With bass leaving their beds and ravenous from the rigors of spawning, now's the time to cast out a topwater popper and get ready for some explosive action.

    How to Catch Post-Spawn Bass with Surface Lures 2006

  • Or it may be meant of Egypt itself, which had been to Israel a house of bondage and therefore a land of trouble and anguish, and which abounded in ravenous and venomous creatures.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • Well, sir, after all this had relatively changed, after the Western nations had made their marvellous advances in civilization, they were too apt to exhibit to China only their barbaric side -- that is, their ravenous cupidity backed by their insolent strength.

    Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z Various

  • While we're obviously going to go through some growing pains for the next few cycles, I'm optimistic that this kind of ravenous fact-checking will result in greater voluntary transparency and less focus on spin and PR.

    Open Source Opposition Research? 2005

  • While we're obviously going to go through some growing pains for the next few cycles, I'm optimistic that this kind of ravenous fact-checking will result in greater voluntary transparency and less focus on spin and PR.

    Open Source Opposition Research? 2005

  • The word "ravenous" scarcely indicates their condition!

    Over the Rocky Mountains Wandering Will in the Land of the Redskin 1859

  • Does anyone want to make the odds that they'll end up eating each other in some kind of ravenous feeding frenzy?

    Latest Articles TVNewser 2010

  • TAS's website may be familiar with my growing obsession with America's looming disaster due to over-spending, debt and, most importantly, endless entitlement spending currently on auto-pilot, a kind of ravenous beast consuming most of our seed corn now and into the future.

    The American Spectator III G. Tracy Mehan 2010

  • Not much-maligned "ravenous" White women snatching successful brothers from the fold.

    NPR Topics: News 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • bodies prior to marathon sex

    October 16, 2007

  • One of only two comments by soitoldthatfool.

    October 7, 2008

  • I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Psalm 57:4~5.

    June 13, 2011