extremely hungry; famished; voracious: feeling ravenous after a hard day's work.
extremely rapacious: a ravenous jungle beast.
intensely eager for gratification or satisfaction.
Origin: 1350–1400;Middle English < Old Frenchravineus, equivalent to ravin(er) to raven2 + -eus-ous
Can be confused: ravenous, ravaging, ravishing (see synonym study at the current entry).
Synonyms 1. greedy, starved, devouring. Ravenous, ravening, voracious suggest a greediness for food and usually intense hunger. Ravenous implies extreme hunger, or a famished condition: ravenous wild beasts.Ravening adds the idea of fierceness and savagery, especially as shown in a violent manner of acquiring food: ravening wolves.Voracious implies craving or eating a great deal of food: a voracious child; a voracious appetite. It may also be used figuratively: a voracious reader.2. predatory.
1412, "obsessed with plundering, extremely greedy," from O.Fr. ravinos "rapacious, violent," from raviner "to seize," from ravine "violent rush, robbery" (see ravine). Meaning "voracious, very hungry" is from c.1430.