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What is the difference between rapacious and clutch?

rapacious | clutch |

As adjectives the difference between rapacious and clutch

is that rapacious is voracious; avaricious while clutch is (us) performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

As a verb clutch is

to seize, as though with claws.

As a noun clutch is

the claw of a predatory animal or bird or clutch can be a brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs.

rapacious

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Voracious; avaricious.
  • * 1787 , :
    • To presume a want of motives for such contests [of power between states] as an argument against their existence, would be to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious .
  • Given to taking by force or plundering; aggressively greedy.
  • * 1910 , :
    • A Prince [...] sooner becomes hated by being rapacious and by interfering with the property and with the women of his subjects, than in any other way.
  • Subsisting off live prey.
  • * 1827 , :
    • Even the rapacious birds appeared to comprehend the nature of the ceremony, for [...] they once more began to make their airy circuits above the place [...]

    Usage notes

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

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * rapaciously * rapaciousness * rapacity

    clutch

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) , of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb. Alternative etymology derives Old English clyccan from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l), (l) (dialectal) * (l), (l), (l), (l) (dialectal) * (l) (obsolete)

    Verb

    (es)
  • To seize, as though with claws.
    • to clutch power
  • * Collier
    • A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Is this a dagger which I see before me ? / Come, let me clutch thee.
  • To grip or grasp tightly.
    • She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Not that I have the power to clutch my hand.

    Noun

    (es)
  • The claw of a predatory animal or bird.
  • (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil.
  • * Cowper
    • the clutch of poverty
  • * Carlyle
    • an expiring clutch at popularity
  • * Bishop Stillingfleet
    • I must have little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant.
  • * 1919 ,
    • You scold yourself; you know it is only your nerves—and yet, and yet... In a little while it is impossible to resist the terror that seizes you, and you are helpless in the clutch of an unseen horror.
  • A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used between engine and gearbox in a car.
  • The pedal in a car that disengages power transmission.
  • Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
  • A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
  • * 1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
    • The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away this chin-band and let the lower jaw drop on the breast; but little else was disturbed, and there was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago.
  • (US) An important or critical situation.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
    • Synonyms
    * clutch bag (small handbag)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (US) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.
  • *
  • * 2009 , Scott Trocchia, The 2006 Yankees: The Frustration of a Nation, A Fan's Perspective , page 21:
    • I start with his most obvious characteristic: he was clutch'. He is Mr. '''Clutch'''. In the last chapter I mentioned that Bernie Williams was '''clutch''', which was a valid assessment, but nobody on the Yankees was as ' clutch as Jeter was.
  • *

    • Etymology 2

    Variant form of (cletch), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (es)
  • A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs.
  • A group or bunch (of people or things).
  • * 2012 , The Economist, 22nd Sep., Innovation in Government: Britain's Local Labs
    • No longer would Britons routinely blame the national government when things went wrong. Instead they would demand action from a new clutch of elected mayors, police commissioners and the like.

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (nb-noun-m1)
  • a (l) (device between engine and gearbox )
  • clutch pedal
    • trå in clutchen - step on the clutch

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    References

    * ----