food web

noun

: the totality of interacting food chains in an ecological community

Examples of food web in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Scientists estimate a garbage truck's worth of plastic waste enters the oceans every minute, where large debris threatens fish, sea turtles and marine mammals with entanglement and smaller plastics enter the ocean food web. Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 4 Mar. 2025 These invaders have disrupted the Great Lakes food web and clogged cities’ water intake systems, causing at least $138 million in damage per year. Christine Keiner, The Conversation, 28 Feb. 2025 Losing the top predator in the ecosystem will have reverberating ramifications throughout the food web, Molnar said. Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 30 Jan. 2025 Through photosynthesis, the particles of light power a cellular reaction that manufactures chemical energy (in the form of sugars), which is then passed around the food web in a complex dance of herbivores, predators, scavengers, decomposers and more. Quanta Magazine, 29 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for food web

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of food web was in 1932

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Cite this Entry

“Food web.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/food%20web. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

food web

noun
: the whole group of interacting food chains in an ecological community

More from Merriam-Webster on food web

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