Definition of "carnivorous" [car•niv•o•rous]

• Of or relating to carnivores. (adjective)
• Flesh-eating or predatory: a carnivorous bird. (adjective)
• Characterized by destructive or predatory behavior or instincts: "a city becoming increasingly carnivorous as it becomes decreasingly serious about governance” ( George F. Will). (adjective)
• Botany Capable of trapping insects or other small organisms and absorbing nutrients from them; insectivorous. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "As recently as the 1990s, Barnes & Noble was known as a carnivorous competitor with the power to wipe out independent bookstores with its steeply discounted books and sprawling stores where customers could sip coffee and read in plush chairs."
• "Wish they had more veg options for those who do not indulge in carnivorous activities."
• "“Old Mayan texts refer to carnivorous nocturnal monkeys of a strange blue hue,” says Dr. Francisco Morelia, chair of the anthropology department at the College of San Miguel."