ravenous

ravenous — adjective

1. feeling so hungry that you need or want food immediately and could eat a large a

1.形容詞B2
釋義

feeling so hungry that you need or want food immediately and could eat a large amount

例句

After the eight-hour hike, Min was ravenous and ate three bowls of rice.

predicative: be + ravenous after [activity]

The ravenous stray cat finished the entire bowl of milk in a single minute.

attributive: ravenous + noun (animal)

同義詞
  • starving

    Much more common in everyday speech; less formal than ravenous

  • famished

    Slightly informal or old-fashioned; often used for dramatic effect

  • voracious

    More formal, emphasizes eating large quantities quickly rather than just feeling hungry

反義詞
  • full

    Everyday word for the opposite of hungry

  • sated

    Formal; means completely satisfied after eating

文法句型

be / feel / look + ravenous

ravenous + noun

用法筆記

Stronger degree of hunger than hungry or starving. Frequently used after physical activity or a long gap between meals. Works both attributively (a ravenous animal) and predicatively (I am ravenous).

常見錯誤

❌I am very ravenous after the workout.
✅I am absolutely ravenous after the workout.
💡Ravenous is already an extreme adjective, so intensifiers like 'very' sound unnatural; use 'absolutely' or 'completely' instead.

❌ 'The children were ravenous and asked for snacks.' (correct grammar but weak context) — The word ravenous fits best when the hunger is linked to a specific cause such as exercise, fasting, or waiting.

2. having a very strong and eager desire for something, especially something non-ph

2.形容詞B2
釋義

having a very strong and eager desire for something, especially something non-physical such as success, knowledge, or entertainment

例句

Eric was ravenous for news about the job interview and checked his inbox every hour.

ravenous for [news / information]

The young novelist had a ravenous desire to see her book published before the summer.

attributive: ravenous desire

同義詞
  • eager

    Broader and less intense than ravenous; very common across all registers

  • avid

    More formal, often used for hobbies or interests (an avid reader)

  • insatiable

    Even stronger than ravenous; suggests a desire that cannot be satisfied no matter how much one gets

反義詞
  • satisfied

    The opposite of having an eager desire; one's needs are met

  • indifferent

    Not caring about or interested in something

文法句型

be + ravenous + for + [something]

ravenous + desire / hunger / curiosity / appetite

用法筆記

Always followed by a prepositional phrase (ravenous for something) when used predicatively, or placed before an abstract noun (ravenous curiosity, ravenous desire) when used attributively. The object of desire is typically non-physical — success, knowledge, attention, entertainment — rather than food, which belongs to sense 1.

常見錯誤

❌She was ravenous a new challenge after finishing her degree.
✅She was ravenous for a new challenge after finishing her degree.
💡The preposition for is required when ravenous is used predicatively to express desire for something.
❌He had a ravenous hunger for food.
✅He had a ravenous hunger for knowledge.
💡For literal food hunger, use sense 1 (extremely hungry). Sense 2 is for figurative, non-physical desires.