Meaning & use
omnivorous
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Eating both plants and animals, rather than only one kind of food.
Grammar: Describes a type of animal or person; it does not usually take 'more' or 'most'.
Patterns
- omnivorous animals
- an omnivorous diet
- be omnivorous
Raccoons are omnivorous and will eat fruit, insects, and almost anything else they find.
Humans are naturally omnivorous, which is why our teeth handle both meat and plants.
The zoo feeds its omnivorous animals a mixture of vegetables and small fish.
adjectivenot comparablefigurative
Interested in many different subjects or activities and eager to take them all in.
Grammar: Used mostly in writing about reading, learning, or culture; it suggests wide, almost indiscriminate interest.
Patterns
- an omnivorous reader
- omnivorous curiosity
- be omnivorous in something
She is an omnivorous reader who moves from detective novels to ancient history without pause.
His omnivorous curiosity led him to study everything from jazz to astrophysics.
The magazine offers an omnivorous mix of politics, fashion, and science.
Common combinations
- omnivorous diet
- An omnivorous diet includes both plant and animal foods.
- omnivorous reader
- As an omnivorous reader, he never sticks to one genre.
- omnivorous appetite
- The festival attracts people with an omnivorous appetite for new music.
- become omnivorous
- Some birds become omnivorous when their usual food is scarce.
Synonyms and how they differ
- herbivorous
- Use this for animals that eat only plants; omnivorous means they eat both plants and animals.
- carnivorous
- This describes animals that eat mainly meat, so it is narrower than omnivorous.
- insectivorous
- This is much more specific, meaning an animal eats mainly insects.
Opposites
Word family
- omnivore noun
- An animal or person that eats both plants and animals.
- omnivorously adverb
- In a way that shows eating or taking in many different things.
- omnivorousness noun
- The quality of eating or enjoying a wide variety of things.
Commonly confused: omnivorous or carnivorous? omnivorous or voracious?
omnivorous vs carnivorous
Carnivorous means eating mainly meat, while omnivorous means eating both meat and plants.
omnivorous vs voracious
Voracious means eating or wanting a lot of food, not eating many kinds of food.
Practice
Which sentence uses "omnivorous" correctly?
Choose one answer.
Omnivorous means eating both plants and animals, so sentence B fits. An and C confuse it with carnivorous or herbivorous, and D describes a plant-based diet only.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “omnivorous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.