carnivore

American  

[kahr-nuh-vawr] / ˈkɑr nəˌvɔr /

noun

• carnivores
  plural

1. any mammal of the order Carnivora that eats meat, fish, or other flesh, especially as its primary source of food: a category of mammals that includes dogs, cats, bears, seals, and weasels.

2. any animal that eats meat, fish, etc., especially as its primary source of food; meat-eater.

   alligators, snakes, and other reptilian carnivores.

3. any plant that traps and feeds on insects and/or arachnids, such as a Venus flytrap.

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carnivore British  

/ ˈkɑːnɪˌvɔː /

noun

1. any placental mammal of the order Carnivora, typically having large pointed canine teeth and sharp molars and premolars, specialized for eating flesh. The order includes cats, dogs, bears, raccoons, hyenas, civets, and weasels

2. any other animal or any plant that feeds on animals

3. informal an aggressively ambitious person

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carnivore Scientific  

/ kär′nə-vôr′ /

1. 1. An animal that feeds chiefly on the flesh of other animals. Carnivores include predators such as lions and alligators, and scavengers such as hyenas and vultures. In a food chain, carnivores are either secondary or tertiary consumers.

   2. Any of various generally meat-eating mammals of the order Carnivora. Carnivores have large, sharp canine teeth and large brains, and the musculoskeletal structure of their forelimbs permits great flexibility for springing at prey. Many carnivores remain in and defend a single territory. Dogs, cats, bears, weasels, raccoons, hyenas, and (according to some classifications) seals and walruses are all carnivores.

2. A plant that eats insects, such as a Venus flytrap.

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carnivore Cultural  

1. A living thing that eats meat. Among mammals, there is an order of carnivores, including primarily meat-eating animals such as tigers and dogs. Some plants, such as the Venus's-flytrap, are carnivores.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• carnivoral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• carnivores
  plural

Etymology

Origin of carnivore

First recorded in 1850–55; from French, from Latin carnivorus carnivorous

Explanation

A carnivore is something that feeds on the flesh of animals. “Did you know that cute little baby seals are carnivores? They eat penguins!” It’s a useful thing to be acquainted with the root vore, which means eat, because you can get herbivore (eats plants), omnivore (eats everything), and sanguivore (eats blood, yes, like vampires). It’s nice to know, too, that it’s not only animals that are carnivores. Some plants, like the Venus flytrap, eat insects, which makes them carnivores as well. It’s nice, too, to have the prefix of carnivore, carn or flesh, in your mind. The easiest way to remember it? Chili con carne, or chili with meat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

carnivore carnivores

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife received two reports of a rare gray wolf sighting and photos of the carnivore in late August in an area where Mendocino, Glenn and Lake counties meet.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026

Myerscough said that through contacting experts, they were able to establish that it was the lower jaw of a rhomaleosaurus, a carnivore also known as a sea dragon.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

He follows a carnivore diet, picks up snakes with his bare hands, and pushes videos of himself doing pushups shirtless and in jeans.

From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026

After detailed analysis, they concluded the marks had been left by a large carnivore, possibly a bear, rather than humans.

From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026

His expression had the insouciance and arrogance of the carnivore, for there was nothing in his demeanor where one could detect a glimmer of civilized ripeness.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued in 1762 that consumers of meat were “more ferocious than other men,” while Lord Byron, in 1819, characterized humans as carnivores who, “like the shark or tiger,” must have their prey.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Suraci stressed that large carnivores, like any species, have inherent value beyond the services they provide to human beings -- but said that failing to make the economic case would be a disservice to them.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

The single person, or the lone vegetarian in a house full of carnivores, might not eat a whole pot of soup in one sitting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

"It may be the early ancestor of all our marsupial carnivores."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026

Gethenians are not a hunting people, because there is very little to hunt—no large herbivores, thus no large carnivores, except in the teeming seas.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• carnivorous
• flesh-eating
• meat-eating