carnivorous
Americanadjective
-
flesh-eating.
A dog is a carnivorous animal.
- Synonyms:
- predacious, predatory
-
of the carnivores.
adjective
-
(esp of animals) feeding on flesh
-
(of plants such as the pitcher plant and sundew) able to trap and digest insects and other small animals
-
of or relating to the Carnivora
-
informal aggressively ambitious or reactionary
Other Word Forms
- carnivorism noun
- carnivorously adverb
- carnivorousness noun
- noncarnivorous adjective
- noncarnivorously adverb
- noncarnivorousness noun
- uncarnivorous adjective
- uncarnivorously adverb
- uncarnivorousness noun
Etymology
Origin of carnivorous
1640–50; < Latin carnivorus, equivalent to carni- (combining form of carō flesh) + -vorus -vorous
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.
They weren’t allowed to experiment with mammals, including rats, so they isolated tissue samples from anglerfish, the carnivorous bottom-feeders with razor sharp teeth.
These efforts give me just enough time and space to dive diagonally out of the carnivorous thicket.
From Literature
Mama Woof smiled in her fashion, which is to say she pulled her carnivorous lips back over those razor-sharp teeth.
From Literature
A newly identified carnivorous reptile may look like a dinosaur at first glance, but researchers have confirmed that it was actually an early relative of modern crocodiles.
From Science Daily
It was a medium-sized, fast-moving predator that evolved after the extinction of other large carnivorous dinosaurs.
From Science Daily
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.
