predatory
Seeking to exploit, victimize, or destroy others for personal or financial gain; in economics, pricing below cost to eliminate competition.
In business contexts, describes deliberate short-term financial sacrifice to eliminate weaker rivals and gain monopoly control later.
Word relationships
- cutthroat: Cutthroat describes fierce or intense competition; predatory specifies intentional exploitation to destroy rivals.
- exploitative: Exploitative focuses on taking unfair advantage of someone, whereas predatory implies active destruction of a competitor.
- fair-trading: Conducting business ethically according to established market norms without intent to destroy rivals.
Commonly confused with
- preparatory: Preparatory means serving as preparation; predatory means hunting or exploiting others.
Word family
- predator (noun): An entity that preys on others.
- predation (noun): The act of preying upon or exploiting others.
Collocations
- predatory pricing
- predatory lending
- predatory tactics
- predatory behavior
Idioms & expressions
- wolf in sheep's clothing
Example sentences
- "The court investigated the mega-retailer for predatory pricing designed to drive local bookshops into bankruptcy." Antitrust enforcement report
- "Predatory lending practices targeted vulnerable homeowners with misleading interest rates prior to the financial crisis." Financial regulation analysis
Memory hook
PREDATOR = A beast hunting prey. Predatory pricing hunts smaller competitors to kill them. Predatory = Hunting competitors to destroy them.
When not to use
Do not use for normal aggressive discounting that is backed by genuine efficiency or low production costs.
Fun facts
- To win a 'predatory pricing' antitrust case, regulators must prove not only that a firm sold goods below cost, but that it had a realistic plan to raise prices way up after rivals went bankrupt.
Related words
Explore more words
exploitation, predator, dumping, monopolize, ruthless, exploit
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