What does rapacity mean?
Rapacity means an excessive and often relentless desire to acquire wealth, possessions, power, or other advantages. The word is strongly evaluative: it presents greed as more than ordinary ambition or even a reasonable wish for prosperity, suggesting a willingness to pursue gain without restraint or consideration for others. It is especially used in political, economic, and literary contexts, where a person's or institution's accumulation of money, land, influence, or control is being criticized. In extended use, rapacity can describe an insatiable appetite for opportunities, resources, or experiences. Because it comes from the same Latin root as rapacious, it is often associated with imagery of seizing or taking by force, although that connection is historical rather than a literal feature of modern usage. Rapacity is a useful formal word when a general term such as greed does not convey the degree, formality, or social criticism intended.
nounThe greedy or excessively acquisitive desire for money, power, or material possessions. It can also refer more broadly to an insatiable appetite for something valuable.
- Excessive or insatiable greed, especially for wealth, power, possessions, or other material advantages.
- By extension, an intense and unceasing desire to obtain something valued, such as opportunities or resources.
"The company was accused of showing a rapacity that put small competitors at a disadvantage."
"The politician's rapacity was evident in the number of business interests accumulated during his time in office."
"The novel portrays the family's rapacity for land and status as the source of its lasting conflict."
The plural is grammatically regular but relatively uncommon.
"The novel depicts the rival families' greed and rapacities as mutually destructive."
Rapacity is greed with a strong appetite: it can describe not only wanting more money, but never losing the capacity to acquire.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does rapacity come from?
Rapacity comes from Latin rapacitas, a noun meaning greediness or acquisitiveness, formed from rapax, meaning greedy or rapacious, and ultimately from rapere, “to seize or take by force.” English borrowed the word in the 16th century, when it was associated with the voracious behavior of animals and, figuratively, with human greed. The same root produced rapacious and raptor, while raptorial refers to birds of prey.
How rapacity is actually used
Rapacity is a formal or literary term and generally carries a strongly negative or critical tone. It is more forceful than simply saying greed, and it is especially common in discussions of money, power, property, and competitive behavior.
Easily confused with rapacity
Both describe greed, but rapacity emphasizes excessive acquisitiveness and can apply to possessions, power, or opportunities, whereas avarice most often means an insatiable desire for wealth or money.
Rapacity is the standard noun for greedy or excessively acquisitive behavior, while rapaciousness is a less common noun formed from the adjective rapacious.