Scavenger vs. Sweeper — What's the Difference?

Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior.

Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera.

An animal, such as a vulture or housefly, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.

One that sweeps.

One that scavenges, as a person who searches through refuse for useful items.

A carpet sweeper.

(Chemistry) A substance added to a mixture to remove or inactivate impurities.

(Sports) A lone defender who plays between the last line of defenders and the goalie in some defensive configurations in soccer.

Someone who scavenges, especially one who searches through rubbish for food or useful things.

One who sweeps.

An animal that feeds on decaying matter such as carrion.

One who sweeps floors or chimneys.

A street sweeper.

A detector (for mines).

A child employed to pick up loose cotton from the floor in a cotton mill.

Any of the small, tropical marine perciform fishes of the family Pempheridae, typically with deeply keeled, compressed bodies and large eyes.

(chemistry) A substance used to remove impurities from the air or from a solution.

(football) A defender who is the last line of defence before the goalkeeper.

(archaic) To scavenge.

(curling) A person who sweeps the ice ahead of the rock in play.

(archaic) To clean the rubbish from a street, etc.

(cricket) A batsman who plays sweep shots.

A person whose employment is to clean the streets of a city, by scraping or sweeping, and carrying off the filth. The name is also applied to any animal which devours refuse, carrion, or anything injurious to health.

(cricket) A fielding position along the boundary; a fielder in this position.

A chemical agent that is added to a chemical mixture to counteract the effects of impurities

A tree that has fallen over a river with branches extending into the water.

Someone who collects things that have been discarded by others

A carpet sweeper.

Any animal that feeds on refuse and other decaying organic matter

A vacuum cleaner.

A group of students tasked at cleaning the homeroom after class dismissal.

(hiking) The last person in the line of hikers that is responsible for ensuring no one gets separated from the group.

(video games) A character designed or capable of knocking out multiple enemies in succession, usually due to a combination of high offense and high speed.

A large-radius, or high/medium speed corner in a racing circuit, named as such because of the ability of someone to trace the corner profile via "sweeping" motion of the arm.

One who, or that which, sweeps, or cleans by sweeping; a sweep; as, a carpet sweeper.

An employee who sweeps (floors or streets etc.)

A cleaning device with revolving brushes that pick up dirt as the device is pushed over a carpet

Little-known nocturnal fish of warm shallow seas with an oblong compressed body