different between eager vs rapacious

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?i??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?i???/
• Rhymes: -i???(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English egre, eger, from Old French egre (French aigre), from Latin acer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.

Alternative forms

• aigre (obsolete)
• eagre (obsolete)

Adjective

eager (comparative more eager, superlative most eager)

1. Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
   • 1887, John Keble, s:The Christian Year

     When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.

   • a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
2. (computing theory) Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.

   an eager algorithm

3. (dated) Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.

   • gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself

4. (obsolete) Sharp; sour; acid.
5. (obsolete) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.

Synonyms

• keen
• raring
• fain (archaic)

Derived terms

• eager beaver
• eagerly
• eagerness

Translations

Etymology 2

See eagre.

Noun

eager (plural eagers)

1. Alternative form of eagre (tidal bore).

Further reading

• eager in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• eager in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• eager at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• aeger, agree, eagre, geare, æger

English

Etymology

Perhaps from rapacity +? -ous, in any case ultimately from Latin rap?x (“grasping, greedy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /???pe?.??s/
• Rhymes: -e???s

Adjective

rapacious (comparative more rapacious, superlative most rapacious)

1. (also figuratively) Voracious; avaricious.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:greedy
2. Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
3. (of an animal, usually a bird) Subsisting off live prey.

Usage notes

• The use of this term for animals other than birds is dated.

Related terms

• rapaciously
• rapaciousness
• rapacity

Translations