1
2
as in victim
a person or thing harmed, lost, or destroyed
he fell prey to nagging—but groundless—doubts about his wife's fidelity
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in target
a person or thing that is the object of abuse, criticism, or ridicule
that woman has a sharp tongue, and her favored prey is her long-suffering husband
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of prey
Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2025
Many of the sharks in this area are juveniles and fail to distinguish between humans and their prey, which includes fish, stingrays and other sharks, according to the statement.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 11 Feb. 2025
From villains to prey, tragic backstories are mandatory — and what once felt like sweet empathy now smacks of artificial saccharine.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2025
Bakker shared a number of graphs that showed that predator–prey ratios dropped over time.
—Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prey
Noun
As the environment and therefore its prey changed, hyaendodonts diminished in diversity and eventually went extinct.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2025
Many of the sharks in this area are juveniles and fail to distinguish between humans and their prey, which includes fish, stingrays and other sharks, according to the statement.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 11 Feb. 2025
From villains to prey, tragic backstories are mandatory — and what once felt like sweet empathy now smacks of artificial saccharine.
—Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2025
Bakker shared a number of graphs that showed that predator–prey ratios dropped over time.
—Danny Robb, JSTOR Daily, 8 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prey
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prey
Noun
-
For a staggering scene in which Tóth and his patron, Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), visit a marble quarry in Carrara, Italy, Blumberg went to a valley to record ambient sound and later applied it to a saxophone part played by soloist Evan Parker.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2025
-
The material consists mainly of finely ground marble, obtained as an otherwise-unwanted waste product from quarries.—
Ben Coxworth,
New Atlas,
25 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Elliston Berry, a 15-year-old victim of deepfakes from Texas.—
Nik Popli,
TIME,
4 Mar. 2025
-
The victim, identified as Jhoser Sanchez, later died in the hospital.—
Escher Walcott,
People.com,
4 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
That means the committee couldn't meet its $880 billion target without touching the program.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
6 Mar. 2025
-
Five, including their target, were hospitalized, prosecutors said.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The top officials estimated that the casualties would include up to 166,000 deaths from malaria, a 30% rise in new tuberculosis cases, 200,000 children paralyzed by polio over the next decade and more than a million children left untreated for severe malnutrition.—
Alex Knapp,
Forbes,
5 Mar. 2025
-
Trump also will be looking out into the chamber at the faces of some of the people who were casualties of his mass government layoffs.—
Rebecca Morin,
USA TODAY,
4 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Prey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prey. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share