English

Noun

opportunivore ‎(plural opportunivores)

1. A person who subsists on still-edible food that has been or was going to be discarded.
   • 2008, Matthew Power, "Mississippi drift: River vagrants in the age of Wal-Mart", Harper's Magazine, March 2008:

     An estimated $75 billion worth of food is thrown out yearly in America, and it doesn’t take a great leap of logic to connect the desire to live sustainably with the almost limitless supply of free food that overflows the nation’s dumpsters. Thus the opportunivore can forage either overtly or covertly, by asking up front or diving out back.

2. One who will generally eat whatever is available, having a diet that excludes few foods.
   • 2010, Alissa York, "The terror within", Globe and Mail, 14 September 2010:

     Their secret? Like us, they [coyotes] survive by adapting: they’re opportunivores, feeding on everything from insects to garbage to deer; […]

3. A person who actively seeks or takes advantage of opportunities.
   • 2012, Dan Schawbel, "Should Journalists Become Entrepreneurs?", Forbes, 26 January 2012:

     Those were heady times for a young, omnivorous reporter: I handled everything from stakeouts to regional front-page features, writing on topics from nuclear power to heroin addiction. I call myself an "opportunivore" because I’m still drawn to a wide range of stories.

Synonyms

• (person who eats salvaged food): freegan
• (one with a flexible diet that excludes few foods): flexitarian, omnivore
• (person who takes advantage of opportunities): opportunist

Quotations

• For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:opportunivore.