Meaning & use
vegetarian
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Meanings
nouncountable
Someone who chooses not to eat meat or fish, often for reasons of health, belief or concern for animals.
Grammar: Plain countable noun: she is a vegetarian, not she is vegetarian person.
Patterns
- a vegetarian for something
My cousin became a vegetarian when she was fifteen.
The caterer asked how many vegetarians would attend the wedding.
As a lifelong vegetarian, he has never tasted a hamburger.
adjectivenot comparable
Containing no meat or fish, or relating to people who eat that way.
Grammar: Comes before a noun or after a linking verb: a vegetarian meal, or the soup is vegetarian.
The cafe offers a vegetarian lasagna every Friday.
Is this curry vegetarian, or does it contain chicken stock?
They follow a vegetarian diet but still eat eggs and cheese.
Word forms
| plural | vegetarians |
|---|
Common combinations
- a strict vegetarian
- My roommate is a strict vegetarian and checks every label.
- a vegetarian diet
- Doctors say a balanced vegetarian diet can be very healthy.
- a vegetarian option
- Every item on the menu has a vegetarian option.
- a vegetarian restaurant
- We found a small vegetarian restaurant near the station.
- become a vegetarian
- He decided to become a vegetarian after reading about farming.
- vegetarian meal
- The airline will serve a vegetarian meal if you ask in advance.
Synonyms and how they differ
- veggie
- Veggie is the informal everyday form and is common in speech and on menus, while vegetarian is the neutral, standard term.
- meat-free
- Meat-free describes food only and says nothing about a person, whereas vegetarian can describe either.
- plant-based
- Plant-based usually describes a food or diet built mostly or entirely from plants and often includes vegan products, so it is not an exact match for vegetarian.
Opposites
Word family
- vegetarianism noun
- the practice of not eating meat or fish
- vegetable noun
- a plant or part of a plant eaten as food
- veggie noun
- informal short form of vegetable or vegetarian
- vegan noun
- a person who eats no animal products at all
Commonly confused: vegetarian or vegan?
vegetarian vs vegan
A vegan avoids all animal products, including eggs, dairy and honey. A vegetarian skips meat and fish but may still eat those.
Practice
Rina is a ___: she eats eggs and cheese but never meat or fish.
Choose one answer.
A vegetarian avoids meat and fish but may eat eggs and dairy. A vegan would avoid eggs and cheese, and a pescatarian eats fish, so neither matches.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “vegetarian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.