herbivore
Americannoun
noun
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an animal that feeds on grass and other plants
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informal a liberal, idealistic, or nonmaterialistic person
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An animal that feeds mainly or only on plants. In a food chain, herbivores are primary consumers.
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Compare carnivore detritivore
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of herbivore
Explanation
Given a choice between a sirloin steak and a pile of grass, an herbivore will take the grass every time. If grass isn't on the menu, a salad will do. Herbivores eat plants. The herb in herbivore reminds you that herbivores eat plants rather than other animals. If you know any giraffes, deer, or vegetarians, you might have some herbivore friends. If you have a friend named Herb, let him know he's safe around them. Unless Herb is your favorite houseplant.
Vocabulary lists containing herbivore
Life Science: Ecosystems
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Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Introductory
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Ecology - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The massive predator shared its environment with other giants, including the horned Triceratops and the duck billed herbivore Edmontosaurus.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Guillermo Deferrari, of Ushuaia's scientific research center, downplayed the landfill theory, explaining that the colilargo is herbivore and lives off seeds and fruit found in forested ecosystems, not in dumps, where the common rat feeds.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
Students must do a training stint in each of four main categories — carnivore, herbivore, bird and primate — so they may wind up working with animals they find unpleasant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
The Edmontosaurus, another herbivore, roamed the forests like the Pachyrhinosaurus - and is helping palaeontologists build up a picture of this ancient land.
From BBC ● May 19, 2025
For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
They’re the base of the aquatic food chain, fed on by herbivores of all shapes and sizes, including shrimp and juvenile fish, which in turn feed organisms higher up the food chain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2026
Their plans include bringing in large herbivores including ponies, hardy cattle and eventually even bison to graze the land naturally, and there are hopes pine martens, beavers and golden eagles could recolonise the landscape.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2025
My wife, an amateur mycologist, had been invited along with some friends to present their findings on the microscopic fungi that grow on the dung of herbivores like deer and rabbits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
The herbivores chomp down invasive cheatgrass that poses wildfire risk, and their poop — maligned by many — actually spreads native seeds, they say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
People in prehistoric times often hunted the big herbivores that dined on grass.
From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
