Definition of FLEXITARIAN

The Difference Between Vegetarian, Vegan, and Other Diets

The word vegetarian sprouted up in 1839. Fruitarian ("a person who lives on fruit") ripened by 1893. In 1944, vegetarians who consume no animal or dairy products began calling themselves vegans. Then, in 1993, those who eat fish but no other meat chose pesce, the Italian word for "fish," to create the designation pescatarian. In that same year, meatatarian was served up as a word for those whose diet largely includes meat; that word is rare, however, and is usually used in informal and humorous ways, making it the type of fare not included in our dictionaries. Another fairly recent dietary word is flexitarian, a person who follows a mostly vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish.

Examples of flexitarian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

An increasing number of flexitarians — people not looking to eat meat at every meal — are helping to drive interest, according to Rabobank. — Lydia Mulvany, The Seattle Times, "Impossible Foods fights for FDA approval on its meatless burgers," 23 Apr. 2018 But there are now new attempts being made to make a veggie burger that can actually substitute for meat, even for carnivores and flexitarians. — Polly Campbell, Cincinnati.com, "New BurgerFi veggie burger 'bleeds' flavor," 20 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'flexitarian.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.