forager
Americannoun
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a person or animal who goes out in search of food or provisions of any kind.
The ants you see are the foragers, out looking for food and water, and they represent only a very small number of the total colony.
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someone who collects or obtains things through hunting or searching about.
We meet the protagonist struggling to make ends meet as a scrap-metal forager in a remote community.
Etymology
Origin of forager
First recorded in 1350–1400, for an earlier sense; forag(e) ( def. ) + -er 1 ( def. )
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.
On an off-day hike, Newton and a forager friend had to spring into action when a restaurant called with an order for five pounds of ramps to be delivered the next day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
His career paths are hunter, forager or watchtower guard, but he seems more like the product of a progressive Montessori school, even with his dad urging him to cackle at shredded deer intestines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
And on her new plant and fungi walks, starting this month, Bay Area forager Cindy Li will share knowledge gained foraging with her immigrant parents.
From Salon ● May 30, 2024
“It’s probably a lot more ubiquitous than we understood,” says co-author Bruce Winterhalder, a behavioral ecologist at UC Davis and pioneering scholar of forager theory.
From Science Magazine ● May 12, 2024
Firstly, all forager societies that have survived into the modern era have been influenced by neighbouring agricultural and industrial societies.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
