binge eating disorder

noun

plural binge eating disorders

: an eating disorder characterized by recurring episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control and often negative feelings about oneself but without intervening periods of compensatory behavior (as self-induced vomiting, purging by laxatives, fasting, or prolonged exercise)

Binge eating disorder is believed to be the most common eating disorder. … To be diagnosed, someone must binge eat at least once a week for three months, with a "binge" meaning eating a larger amount of food in a certain time frame than most people would eat in that same window and feeling out of control while doing it.

—Anna Medaris Miller

Binge eating disorder has been estimated to affect up to 5% of Americans. People with the condition regularly eat large amounts of food in a short time span, and feel they cannot control what or how much they are consuming.

—Amy Norton

—abbreviation BED

Examples of binge eating disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Overeating isn’t considered an eating disorder, but certain eating disorders involve overeating—for example, binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). —Jillian Kubala, Health, 7 Apr. 2025

The drugs are most often prescribed to treat A.D.H.D., but they’re also used for conditions like narcolepsy or a binge eating disorder. —Christina Caron, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025

She was diagnosed with binge eating disorder later that year. —Samhita Mukhopadhyay, SELF, 26 Mar. 2025

She was ultimately diagnosed with binge eating disorder. —Zoey Lyttle, People.com, 26 Mar. 2025

Additionally, functional imaging studies have explored people’s responses to food images and found that people with ADHD or binge eating disorder have stronger responses than those without either disorder. —Cheyenne Buckingham, SELF, 19 Mar. 2025

His 2021 study found that every additional hour of social media use was linked with a 62% higher risk of developing binge eating disorder a year later. —Madeline Holcombe, CNN, 28 Jan. 2025

There was nothing that could control my food addiction and my binge eating disorder. —Brenda Goodman, CNN, 9 Dec. 2024

If left untreated, binge eating disorder can lead to excessive weight gain, metabolic issues like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even certain cancers. —Wendy Wisner, Health, 7 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1981, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for binge eating disorder

• boarder
• border
• corder
• order
• warder
• camcorder
• recorder
• reorder
• suborder
• transborder

Medical Definition

binge eating disorder

noun

: an eating disorder characterized by recurring episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control and often negative feelings about oneself but without intervening periods of compensatory behavior (as self-induced vomiting, purging by laxatives, fasting, or prolonged exercise)

Recurrent binge episodes, marked by the consumption of a large amount of food and the experience of loss of control, are the hallmark of binge eating disorder …

—Richard L. Stein et al., International Journal of Eating Disorders

Binge eating disorder … resembles bulimia nervosa, but is characterized by the absence of purging and other behavior compensatory to binge eating.

—Richard A. Grucza et al., Comprehensive Psychiatry

—abbreviation BED