omnivore
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of omnivore
First recorded in 1885–90; from French, from Latin omnivorus “all-devouring”; see omnivorous ( def. ); noun use modeled on carnivore, herbivore, etc.
Explanation
An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals for their main food. Pigs are omnivores, so they would be just as happy eating an apple, or the worm inside the apple. Omnivore comes from the Latin words omni, meaning "all, everything," and vorare, meaning "to devour." So an omnivore will eat pretty much eat anything in sight. Humans are genetically designed to be omnivores, but some people choose to limit their diets. When a person is described as an omnivore, it usually means he's willing to eat all kinds of foods and is not a vegetarian or a vegan or on some other kind of special diet.
Vocabulary lists containing omnivore
The Omnivore's Dilemma
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Life Science: Ecosystems
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Ecology - Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - Introductory
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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.
Omnivore diversity tends to thrive in places with very stable climates.
From Science Daily • Oct. 24, 2023
The Grammy-nominated Los Angeles imprint Omnivore couldn’t have foreseen the coming COVID-19 coronavirus when it commissioned a trio of soft-ish rock releases by America, Andrew Gold and the Righteous Bros.’
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2020
The website Omnivore named Mr. Gill’s review its Hatchet Job of 2014, awarding him a year’s supply of potted shrimp for his efforts.
From Washington Post • Dec. 13, 2016
Celia Sack, 45, collects old cookbooks, and she opened Omnivore Books in San Francisco, in part, to feed her habit.
From New York Times • May 5, 2015
The Hatchet Job of the Year prize was set up by the Omnivore website to "raise the profile of professional book critics and to promote integrity and wit in literary journalism".
From The Guardian • Feb. 12, 2013
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.
