Did you know?
The Classic Omnivore
Human beings seem to be classic omnivores. Originally living as "hunter-gatherers", we hunted and fished when possible but also gathered nuts, berries, fruits, seeds, and roots for much of our diet. We're physically well suited for both tasks; our hands are perfect for picking things, and our build is ideal for running down even the fastest game animals because of our great stamina. Some 10,000 years ago humans began practicing agriculture involving both animals and plants. The other omnivorous mammals include chimpanzees, pigs, opossums, porcupines, bears, raccoons, chipmunks, mice and rats, and skunks. But even many mammals classed as carnivorous turn out to be capable of shifting to plant foods when necessary.
Examples of omnivore in a Sentence
Joe Yonan, Washington Post, 24 Mar. 2024
The burgers — about $4 more expensive than the traditional ones — are designed to appeal to a fast growing, desirable demographic of climate-conscious omnivores.
—Laura Reiley, Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2024
The prescribed omnivore diet included at least one serving of fish, meat, or chicken every day, as well as one egg and a serving and a half of dairy.
—Kaitlin Sullivan, Health, 9 Dec. 2023
Those who ate an omnivore’s diet (meat, plants, everything) were more likely to have caught COVID (52 percent) than herbivores (40 percent).
—Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2024
The gibbons are omnivores, but most of their diet comes from plants and not animals.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 14 Feb. 2024
Yes, chimpanzees are considered omnivores because their diet includes fruits, nuts, seeds, insects, and meat.
—Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 30 Jan. 2024
Brown bears are wide-ranging omnivores with diets that vary seasonally, inter-annually and geographically.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
All participants were omnivores before the study began.
—Kaitlin Sullivan, Health, 9 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'omnivore.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near omnivore
Cite this Entry
“Omnivore.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnivore. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
omnivore
noun
Share