Voracious Meaning
/vɔːˈɹeɪ.ʃəs/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjWanting or devouring great quantities of food.
adjHaving a great appetite for anything; eager.
Sentence Examples
They're intelligent and voracious.
She's a voracious reader.
After skiing, I find that I have a voracious appetite.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ beast ate all the food in seconds, never seeming full.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He has a ____ appetite for several history books, often reading two or three large volumes in a single week today.
Word Origin & History
From Latin vorāx, from vorō (“to devour”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I never had so much as […] one wish to God to direct me whither I should go, or to keep me from the danger which apparently surrounded me, as well from voracious creatures as cruel savages."
— 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
"The old man was up, betimes, next morning, and waited impatiently for the appearance of his new associate, who after a delay that seemed interminable, at length presented himself, and commenced a voracious assault on the breakfast."
— 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 45, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
"Retreating before stronger breeds, hungry and voracious, the Eskimo has drifted to the inhospitable polar regions, the Pygmy to the fever-rotten jungles of Africa."
— 1917, Jack London, “The Human Drift”, in The Human Drift, New York: Macmillan, page 3:
"If he carried chiefly his appetite, a zeal for tiled bathrooms, a conviction that the Pullman car is the acme of human comfort, and a belief that it is proper to tip waiters, taxicab drivers, and barbers, but under no circumstances station agents and ushers, then his Odyssey will be replete with good meals and bad meals, bathing adventures, compartment-train escapades, and voracious demands for money."
— 1922, Walter Lippmann, chapter 7, in Public Opinion:
"Methodical and voracious, these hackers wanted all the files they could find."
— 2005 August 29, Nathan Thornburgh, “The Invasion of the Chinese Cyberspies”, in Time:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ beast ate all the food in seconds, never seeming full.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He has a ____ appetite for several history books, often reading two or three large volumes in a single week today.