- Of or relating to carnivores.
- Flesh-eating or predatory: a carnivorous bird.
- Characterized by destructive or predatory behavior or instincts: "a city becoming increasingly carnivorous as it becomes decreasingly serious about governance" (George F. Will).
- Botany. Capable of trapping insects or other small organisms and absorbing nutrients from them; insectivorous.
[From Latin carnivorus : carō, carn-, flesh + -vorus, -vorous.]
carnivorously car·niv'o·rous·ly adv.carnivorousness car·niv'o·rous·ness n.





