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omnivorous

/ɑmˈnɪvərəs/
IPA guide

Other forms: omnivorously

An omnivorous animal eats meat and plants — everything on the menu.

The word omnivorous wears its meaning on its sleeve: omni means "all," and vorare is "to devour." It all comes together in the Latin word omnivorus — "all-devouring." Rarr! Polar bears are omnivorous, while pandas are herbivorous (eat only plants). People love to say they're carnivorous (eat only meat) when they're probably really omnivorous (unless they really do kick the French fries off the plate every time). Since omnivorous means "devouring everything," you can use it to describe someone with a very curious mind, who wants to "devour" everything with their brain, not their teeth.

Definitions of omnivorous
  1. adjective
    feeding on both plants and animals
    synonyms:
    all-devouring
    (of animals) both plant-eating and flesh-eating
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    antonyms:
    carnivorous
    (used of plants as well as animals) feeding on animals
    herbivorous
    feeding only on plants
    insectivorous
    (of animals and plants) feeding on insects
    vegan
    eating or using no animal products
    vegetarian
    consuming a diet without meat, poultry, or fish
    flesh-eating, meat-eating, zoophagous
    relating to or describing organisms that feed on animals
    piscivorous
    feeding on fishes
    predaceous, predacious
    hunting and killing other animals for food
    anthophagous, anthophilous
    feeding on flowers
    baccivorous
    feeding on berries
    carpophagous, fruit-eating
    feeding on fruit
    grass-eating
    feeding on grasses
    phytophagic, phytophagous, phytophilous, plant-eating
    (of animals) feeding on plants
    saprophagous, saprozoic
    (of certain animals) feeding on dead or decaying animal matter
    saprophytic
    (of some plants or fungi) feeding on dead or decaying organic matter
    apivorous
    feeding on bees
    myrmecophagous
    feeding on ants
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