carnivore
nounUK /ˈkɑː.nɪ.vɔː/ · CA, US /ˈkɑɹ.nɪ.voɹ/
Etymology Borrowed from French carnivore, from Latin carnivorus. In the zoological sense, coined by William Whewell in 1840 as an adaptation of Cuvier's coinage, French carnivore.
1
An organism that feeds chiefly on animals; an animal that feeds on meat as the main part of its diet.
- As juveniles the crocodiles are frequently predated by larger carnivores.
- The panda and the panther are both carnivores.
3
Informal A person who is not a vegetarian.
- Well, she has now gone / From this unhappy planet / With all the carnivores / And the destructors on it1990, Morrissey, “Ouija Board, Ouija Board”, in Bona Drag:
4
Informal A follower of the carnivore diet.
- Derived terms
- carbivore, carnivoracity, carnivore diet, carnivorism, carnivorous, carnivorousness, carnivory, facultative carnivore, flexivore, hypercarnivore, hypocarnivore, macrocarnivore, megacarnivore, mesocarnivore, microcarnivore, noncarnivore, obligate carnivore, omnicarnivore
- Related terms
- Carnivora, carnivoran, carnivorous, folivore, frugivore, hemovore, herbivore, insectivore, omnivore, piscivore