protocarnivorous
UK/ˌpɹəʊtəkɑːˈnɪvəɹəs/
protocarnivorous adjective: capable of trapping and killing insects or other animals but lacking the ability to digest or absorb nutrients from its prey.
Adjective
protocarnivorous (not comparable)
- Capable of trapping and killing insects or other animals but lacking the ability to digest or absorb nutrients from its prey.
- Recently, a new distinction has been made between the classical carnivorous plants, terrestrial or aquatic, and the newly discovered protocarnivorous plants.1998, Pierre Jolivet, Interrelationship Between Insects and Plants, CRC Press, page 101
- Pinedrops and other protocarnivorous species have an advantage over other plants in situations where soil nitrogen is scarce.2007, Carolyn Dodson, William W. Dunmire, Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies: Revealing Their Natural History, University of New Mexico Press, page 45
- Synonyms:
- paracarnivorous, subcarnivorous
Synonyms of protocarnivorous
- paracarnivorous
- subcarnivorous
Origin of protocarnivorous
From proto- + carnivorous.
Words formed from protocarnivorous
- protocarnivorous plant
Questions about protocarnivorous
- What does protocarnivorous mean?
- Protocarnivorous means capable of trapping and killing insects or other animals but lacking the ability to digest or absorb nutrients from its prey.
- What part of speech is protocarnivorous?
- Protocarnivorous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce protocarnivorous?
- Protocarnivorous is pronounced /ˌpɹəʊtəkɑːˈnɪvəɹəs/ (UK).
Words near protocarnivorous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: protocarnivorous (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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