Dictionary

unvegetarian en · ADJ

Etymology

From un- + vegetarian.

Meanings

1. Not vegetarian.
   • And now she’s chosen the most unvegetarian thing possible – baby cow, taken from its mother’s womb for the express purpose of being slaughtered for her dining pleasure. 2012, Laura Marney, Only Strange People Go to Church, Saraband, →ISBN:
   • Even as long ago as the last century, it had occurred to Mr. Littlepage that a mouth like Marmaduke’s was as fateful as destiny. Could the most exemplary character have triumphed over such unvegetarian, not to say carnal, lips? 1929, Ellen Glasgow, They Stooped to Folly (The Old Dominion Edition of the Works of Ellen Glasgow), Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., page 119:
   • At their luncheon at a most unvegetarian restaurant named Boeuf à la Mode, Rilke was impressive, still tanned from his months in southern Spain, full of lively conversation. 1996, Ralph Freedman, “Dreams of Connection”, in Life of a Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, part VI (Inner Landscapes), page 363:
   • To add insult to injury, sundew’s summer flowers are usually pollinated by the same unsuspecting flies that they devour. Such decidedly unvegetarian habits develop among plants living where they cannot obtain the nutrients they need through their roots. 1997, Doug Bennet, Tim Tiner, Up North Again: More of Ontario’s Wilderness, from Ladybugs to the Pleiades, McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 181:
   • Besides the decidedly unvegetarian salmon, there were baked potatoes (acceptable), beet salad (dubious), and lima beans (clearly inedible). 2009, Susannah Terrell French, Operation Redwood, New York, N.Y.: Amulet Books, published 2011, →ISBN:

Forms

Synonyms

nonvegetarian