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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 vegetarian in a Sentence
Daryl Austin, USA Today, 7 June 2025
Infants of vegetarians or vegans: Infants who are solely breastfed by people who are vegans, vegetarians, or are vitamin B12-deficient could also develop a vitamin B12 deficiency.
—Melissa Nieves, Verywell Health, 13 May 2025
Wendy Altschuler, Forbes.com, 25 May 2025
Many of them are vegetarian (Tomato and farro salad with arugula!
—Tanya Sichynsky, New York Times, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for vegetarian
Cite this Entry
“Vegetarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vegetarian. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
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vegetarian
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vegetarian
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vegetarian
1 of 2 noun
vegetarian
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