PLANT-EATING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plant-eating mean? 

• PLANT-EATING (adjective)
  The adjective PLANT-EATING has 1 sense:

1. (of animals) feeding on plants

  Familiarity information: PLANT-EATING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLANT-EATING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of animals) feeding on plants

Synonyms:

phytophagic; phytophagous; phytophilous; plant-eating

Similar:

herbivorous (feeding only on plants)

Domain category:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

 Context examples 

Experts believe that the thigh bone belonged to a sauropod — one of a group of long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs that include some of the largest animals to have ever walked the Earth.

(140 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur’s Huge Bone Found in Southwest France, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Wildfires swept the landscape during arid regimes and reshaped the vegetation available for plant-eating animals.

(Big dinosaurs steered clear of the tropics, NSF)

Scientists at the National Science Foundation (NSF) Bonanza Creek Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in Alaska are working to understand interactions between changing tree lines and plant-eating animals such as the snowshoe hare.

(Race across the tundra: White spruce vs. snowshoe hare, National Science Foundation)