PREDATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does predation mean? 

• PREDATION (noun)
  The noun PREDATION has 2 senses:

1. an act of plundering and pillaging and marauding

2. the act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey

  Familiarity information: PREDATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREDATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act of plundering and pillaging and marauding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

depredation; predation

Hypernyms ("predation" is a kind of...):

pillage; pillaging; plundering (the act of stealing valuable things from a place)

Derivation:

predate (prey on or hunt for)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("predation" is a kind of...):

hunt; hunting (the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts)

Derivation:

predate (prey on or hunt for)

 Context examples 

Like many brightly-colored tropical frogs, pumpkin toadlets are highly toxic, which may lower the risk of predation when they are calling.

(Tiny Brazilian Frogs Deaf to Own Calls, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

"This will have consequences for ecological and evolutionary interactions, including mating, predation, and habitat selection."

(Study considers sensory impacts of environmental change on ocean species, National Science Foundation)

The researchers noted the sevengill sharks might not have the same effect on the ecosystems involved as the great whites have had, citing the ecological disruption apparently caused off Alaska when a change in orca behavior had a knock-on effect, disrupting sea otters' predation of sea urchins, whose population then exploded, plowing through the area's kelp forests.

(Study indicates as great white shark disappears, living fossil moves in, Wikinews)