herbivorous
Americanadjective
adjective
-
(of animals) feeding on grass and other plants
-
informal liberal, idealistic, or nonmaterialistic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of herbivorous
Explanation
A buffalo, a goose, a grasshopper, and a stegosaurus sit down to eat dinner. This isn’t a joke, it’s an example of herbivorous creatures who exist on a diet of plant life only. Herbivorous comes from the Latin word herba, which means “green plants,” and that’s what herbivorous animals eat all the time: grass, leaves, and other plants. Some massive and strong animals actually have peaceful herbivorous eating habits, like gorillas and hippopotamuses. The opposite of herbivorous is carnivorous, which describes meat-eating beasts like lions, sharks, crocodiles, and your uncle Marvin who eats nothing but steak all day long.
Vocabulary lists containing herbivorous
100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 2
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2014 Vocabulary Video Contest (A-L)
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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.
In the wild, wolf packs primarily subsist on wild ungulates - hoofed, typically herbivorous, animals such as deer, cows and pigs.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
The region hosts the world's second-largest population of dugongs -- herbivorous marine mammals known as "sea cows" that are listed as vulnerable -- with an estimated 5,000 to 7,500 individuals.
From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026
They had previously been characterized as entirely herbivorous, like gorillas, Goodall observed them hunting, killing and eating small mammals such as bush pigs and colobus monkeys, by any standard a complicated collaborative enterprise.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2025
University of Sydney researchers have shown it is possible to shield plants from the hungry maws of herbivorous mammals by fooling them with the smell of a variety they typically avoid.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2024
In all, of the world’s 148 big wild terrestrial herbivorous mammals—the candidates for domestication—only 14 passed the test.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
