flesh-eating
adjective
flesh-eat·ing
ˈflesh-ˌē-tiŋ 
: feeding on or destroying flesh or soft tissue
A Kentucky man was diagnosed with a flesh-eating infection after he went camping along the Green River.—
Dayton (Ohio) Daily News
Dayton (Ohio) Daily News… infestation by blowflies whose eggs hatch into flesh-eating maggots.—Kerry Capell
Kerry CapellBut according to Eugenie Clark, a University of Maryland zoologist, "the white shark, the largest flesh-eating fish, is anything but a mindless, constant eating machine."—Discover
DiscoverNatural history buffs will find … a 145-million-year-old foot from the Allosaur, one of the largest flesh-eating dinosaurs …—Carolyn Hughes Crowley
see also flesh-eating bacterium, flesh-eating disease
Carolyn Hughes CrowleyExamples of flesh-eating in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In the movie, the virus turns people into flesh-eating zombies.
—Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2025
A number of factors have kept prices stubbornly high, including widespread drought and the reemergence of a flesh-eating screwworm in Mexican cattle.
—Mackensy Lunsford, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Oct. 2025
The shortage has also been made worse by an infestation of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, just across the border in Mexico, significantly curtailing beef imports from that country.
—Samantha Delouya, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
What to Know Trump said Sunday that his administration would import beef from Argentina to help tackle persistently high prices as the supply is throttled by drought, a flesh-eating pest and other issues affecting cattle.
—Jason Lemon, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Oct. 2025
But oysters also can absorb bad stuff in their flesh – one of the scariest being a flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio vulnificus that lives naturally in all coastal waters.
—Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2025
The flesh-eating parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans.
—Peter Burke, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Texas officials are telling residents to check their pets and livestock, and insisting on immediate use of pesticide bait after officials in Mexico confirmed an infection with the flesh-eating New World Screwworm (NWS) less than 70 miles from the US border.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
Vibrio are a flesh-eating bacteria that thrive in saltwater and brackish water (a mix of salt and fresh water).
—Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025
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Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Oct. 2025
A number of factors have kept prices stubbornly high, including widespread drought and the reemergence of a flesh-eating screwworm in Mexican cattle.
—Mackensy Lunsford, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Oct. 2025
The shortage has also been made worse by an infestation of New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite, just across the border in Mexico, significantly curtailing beef imports from that country.
—Samantha Delouya, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2025
What to Know Trump said Sunday that his administration would import beef from Argentina to help tackle persistently high prices as the supply is throttled by drought, a flesh-eating pest and other issues affecting cattle.
—Jason Lemon, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Oct. 2025
But oysters also can absorb bad stuff in their flesh – one of the scariest being a flesh-eating bacteria called vibrio vulnificus that lives naturally in all coastal waters.
—Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2025
The flesh-eating parasite, a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly, attacks warm-blooded animals, including humans.
—Peter Burke, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Texas officials are telling residents to check their pets and livestock, and insisting on immediate use of pesticide bait after officials in Mexico confirmed an infection with the flesh-eating New World Screwworm (NWS) less than 70 miles from the US border.
—Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
Vibrio are a flesh-eating bacteria that thrive in saltwater and brackish water (a mix of salt and fresh water).
—Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Flesh-eating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flesh-eating. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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