Ravenous means extremely hungry. Ravenous after the walk, a ravenous appetite, absolutely ravenous.
It is at the top of the hunger range and slightly dramatic, which is why it is usually said cheerfully about a missed lunch. Of an animal it means predatory. Note that despite appearances the word has nothing to do with ravens: it comes from a French word about seizing prey, the same root as ravage and ravish.
1adjectiveravenousExtremely hungry.
“After the long hike, we were ravenous and ate everything on the table.”
synonyms: starving, famished
ravenous is a quality of hunger.
Also accepted in games: famished
Old French ravineus comes from ravine, violent seizing, from Latin rapina, plunder. The bird called a raven is unrelated, and the resemblance is an accident.
Old French
ravineus
Middle English
ravenous
English, today
ravenous
From Middle English ravenous, ravynous, from Old French ravineus. by surface analysis, ravin + -ous. As seen at raven and ravin, the word comes from a root referring to predation, not from the root referring to ravens (corvid birds); but folk etymology notes that the latter hypothesis seems plausible because ravens can often seem ravenous (especially as nestlings).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Word Building