insectivorous

American  

[in-sek-tiv-er-uhs] / ˌɪn sɛkˈtɪv ər əs /

adjective

1. feeding on insects, especially when they constitute the entire diet, as in the case of many arachnids, birds, and small mammals.

2. Botany. having specialized leaves or leaf parts capable of trapping and digesting insects, as the Venus flytrap, the pitcher plants, and the sundews.

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insectivorous British  

/ ˌɪnsɛkˈtɪvərəs /

adjective

1. feeding on or adapted for feeding on insects

   insectivorous plants

2. of or relating to the order Insectivora

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Usage

See entomophagy.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• insectivory
  noun

Etymology

Origin of insectivorous

First recorded in 1655–65; from New Latin insectivorus, equivalent to insect ( def. ) + -i- ( def. ) + -vorous ( def. )

Example Sentences

A naked mole rat is seen in a display enclosure of a new building for small mammals, birds, carnivorous plants and insectivorous animals at the zoological-botanical garden in Stuttgart.

From Salon • May 11, 2025

The Pacific Islands have 191 known bat species, from tiny insectivorous microbats such as the four-centimeter-long sheath-tailed bats to fruit-eating flying foxes that dangle in trees and have a wingspan of a meter.

From Scientific American • Aug. 28, 2023

"We think bats probably evolved from a small, tree-dwelling, insectivorous mammal," Jones said.

From Reuters • Apr. 13, 2023

The ancestral virus probably resided in a bat, possibly a horseshoe bat, belonging to a genus of small, insectivorous creatures with horseshoe-shaped noses, which commonly carry coronaviruses.

From National Geographic • Jan. 14, 2021

Food in the alimentary canal is, strictly speaking, outside the confines of the body; as much so as the fly grasped in the leaves of the insectivorous Dionea is outside of the plant itself.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux" by Various