What does ravening mean?
Ravening is a literary adjective describing extreme hunger or an appetite that appears almost predatory. Alongside its literal sense, it can characterize something fierce, dangerous, or driven by an overwhelming need, as in “ravening wolves” or “a ravening appetite.” The word is more evocative than hungry and more violent in implication than ravenous, making it especially effective in narrative, descriptive, and figurative contexts. It can also describe an insatiable desire for knowledge, power, or experience, though such extensions may sound heightened or intentionally dramatic. In ordinary conversation, hungry or insatiable will usually be more natural. Ravening is nevertheless useful when the aim is to convey not merely hunger, but a hunger portrayed as fierce, relentless, or unsettling.
adjectiveExtremely hungry or voracious, especially in a fierce or predatory sense. It is often used figuratively to describe an insatiable appetite or desire.
- Extremely hungry or voracious in appetite.
- Fierce, predatory, or violently aggressive, especially in a literary or dramatic context.
"The starving creature fixed the hunting party with a ravening stare."
"A pack of ravening wolves threatened the hunters as the storm closed in."
"Her ravening curiosity led her to investigate every unexplained sound in the empty house."
Ravening captures hunger that feels less like an appetite and more like a force of nature.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ravening come from?
Ravening is formed from raven with the participial ending -ing, expressing a quality associated with a raven or with ravenous appetite. Raven came into Middle English from Old Norse rafn, although the deeper origin of the Old Norse word is uncertain. The modern adjective developed literary associations with voracious feeding and predatory ferocity.
Related word forms
How ravening is actually used
Ravening is literary and somewhat dramatic. It is stronger and more suggestive of danger, ferocity, or insatiable appetite than the neutral word hungry, and it is often used figuratively.
Easily confused with ravening
Ravenous primarily means extremely hungry, whereas ravening adds a more literary and often violent or predatory implication.
Ravening describes voracious hunger or ferocity, while raving more commonly denotes frantic behaviour or enthusiastic excess.