preynoun [ U ]
uk/preɪ/us/preɪ/C2 an animal that is hunted and killed for food by another animal:
A hawk hovered in the air before swooping on its prey.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
General & informal words for animals
- arthropod
- beast
- beastie
- brute
- bug
- creepy-crawly
- critter
- domestic animal
- invertebrate
- man-eater
- pest
- pet
- predator
- stray
- thing
- vermin
- vertebrata
Idiom(s)
be easy prey
be/fall prey to sth