1
as in shrew
a bad-tempered scolding woman
in fairy tales stepmothers are often portrayed as harpies who make the lives of their stepchildren miserable
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2
as in predator
a person who habitually preys upon others
having just started to make it really big in the music business, he found himself surrounded by a flock of harpies greedy for a piece of the action
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Recent Examples of harpy
This is her name for the seventh circle of hell from Dante’s Inferno, where the souls of those who’ve committed suicide become trees, and harpies peck at them for all eternity.
—
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2023
Karen is, of course, the generic name for the ubiquitous American harpy who, through the long summer of 2020, pitched fits about masks and sometimes about race, in public spaces.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 18 Aug. 2020
Others portrayed her as a harpy, a notoriously disagreeable mythical beast that was half bird-of-prey, half woman.
—The Economist, 9 Nov. 2019
Those kinds of sentiments have multiplied on social media, which has exploded with memes in recent days calling the four everything from terrorists to harpies to cancer.
—Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, 27 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for harpy
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2023
Karen is, of course, the generic name for the ubiquitous American harpy who, through the long summer of 2020, pitched fits about masks and sometimes about race, in public spaces.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 18 Aug. 2020
Others portrayed her as a harpy, a notoriously disagreeable mythical beast that was half bird-of-prey, half woman.
—The Economist, 9 Nov. 2019
Those kinds of sentiments have multiplied on social media, which has exploded with memes in recent days calling the four everything from terrorists to harpies to cancer.
—Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times, 27 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for harpy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harpy
Noun
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She was indicted in the first Trump administration, and undoubtedly would have been convicted, just as the shrew judge in Milwaukee was last week for doing the exact same thing.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
24 Dec. 2025
-
The godfather-like arctic shrew Mr. Big is back, as is Flash, the sloth, both ready to help at just the right moment.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
25 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Opening arguments begin on Monday in a high-profile trial brought by the state of New Mexico against Meta, which allegedly failed to safeguard apps like Facebook and Instagram from online predators who targeted child users, according to Raúl Torrez, the state's attorney general.—
Jonathan Vanian,
CNBC,
9 Feb. 2026
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Regina is the teenage apex predator of North Shore High, always looking for an opportunity to bolster her impeccable popularity or take down a potential rival.—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Written by Port and Wiseman, Eternally Yours is an eternal love story about two vampires, Liz (Edwards) and Charles (Weeks), who have been married for five hundred years, and their struggles to accept the human, Max (Lewison), who is dating their daughter, Emma (Shen).—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
9 Feb. 2026
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An energy vampire has bad body language, the complaining look on their face, the vocal complainer.—
Edgar Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Instead of waiting for a squad car to arrive, officers will now be able to dispatch a drone to scope out the scene, hovering over citizens in need like a high-tech vulture.—
Joe Wilkins,
Futurism,
4 Feb. 2026
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Dumars insists on following the Miami-Dade Police Department rulebook by counting all the money at the scene, and the thriller quickly becomes a race against time as parties with vested interests in the stash house begin to circle like vultures.—
Brian Davids,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Harpy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harpy. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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