omnivorous

English

Etymology

From omni- + -vorous; from the Latin omni, all and -vore.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑmˈnɪ.vɝ.əs/
  • Hyphenation: om‧niv‧o‧rous

Adjective

omnivorous (not comparable)

  1. Having a diet which is neither exclusively carnivorous nor exclusively herbivorous.
  2. (figuratively) Having an interest in a variety of subjects.
    • 1968, Robert Ligon Harrison, Samuel Beckett's Murphy; a critical excursion, page 57:
      The Beckettian progression appears occasionally: while Miss Counihan (static) is an omnivorous reader and Murphy (transitional) a strict non-reader, Cooper is an analphabete.
    • 2003, Simon Winchester, The Meaning of Everything; The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, New York: Oxford University Press, page 72:
      He was omnivorous in his appetite for knowledge, quite catholic in his range of interests []
  3. (figuratively) All-consuming.

Derived terms

Translations

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