meat-eating
Definition
- Adjective:
- Carnivorous: Describes an animal that primarily consumes the flesh of other animals as its main source of food.
Usage
- The adjective "meat-eating" is used to classify animals based on their diet. It is typically used in scientific, zoological, or general descriptive contexts.
- It functions as an attributive adjective, meaning it usually comes before the noun it modifies (e.g., "meat-eating animals").
Examples
- Adjective:
- Lions and tigers are classic examples of meat-eating mammals.
- The discovery of a fossilized tooth provided evidence that the dinosaur was meat-eating.
- Not all reptiles are meat-eating; some, like iguanas, are primarily herbivorous.
Advanced Usage
- "Obligate meat-eater": A term used to describe an animal that must eat meat to survive and cannot thrive on a plant-based diet.
- Cats are obligate meat-eaters; they require specific nutrients found only in animal tissue.
Variants and Related Words
- Carnivore (n): An animal that eats meat. This is the noun form.
- The wolf is a skilled carnivore.
- Carnivorous (adj): A more formal synonym for "meat-eating."
- The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant.
- Predatory (adj): Often implies hunting live prey, which is a behavior of many meat-eating animals.
- The hawk has a predatory nature.
Synonyms
- Carnivorous
- Flesh-eating
- Predaceous (typically refers to hunting and eating live prey)
Antonyms
- Herbivorous: Plant-eating.
- Omnivorous: Eating both plants and meat.
Adjective
-
(of animals) carnivorous
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