insectivorous
Americanadjective
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feeding on insects, especially when they constitute the entire diet, as in the case of many arachnids, birds, and small mammals.
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Botany. having specialized leaves or leaf parts capable of trapping and digesting insects, as the Venus flytrap, the pitcher plants, and the sundews.
adjective
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feeding on or adapted for feeding on insects
insectivorous plants
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of or relating to the order Insectivora
Usage
See entomophagy.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of insectivorous
First recorded in 1655–65; from New Latin insectivorus, equivalent to insect ( def. ) + -i- ( def. ) + -vorous ( 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.
"We think bats probably evolved from a small, tree-dwelling, insectivorous mammal," Jones said.
From Reuters • Apr. 13, 2023
In Europe, parallel declines of insectivorous swallows, house martins and swifts have all been linked to insect declines.
From Salon • Mar. 1, 2023
The insectivorous choruses actually synchronize their sibilant symphonies in a deafening, but gorgeous, hum.
From Scientific American • Jun. 14, 2021
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
Tody, tō′di, n. a small West Indian insectivorous bird—the green sparrow, green humming-bird, &c.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
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.
