food insecure

adjective

variants or less commonly food-insecure

ˈfüd-ˌin-si-ˈkyu̇r 

: unable to consistently access or afford adequate food

According to data released last week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 17 percent of Americans—more than 50 million people—live in households that are "food insecure," a term that means a family sometimes runs out of money to buy food, or it sometimes runs out of food before it can get more money.

—Lisa Miller

A food-insecure household may be faced with the difficult choice of paying for basic necessities, such as health care and housing, or buying nutritionally adequate foods.

—Elyse Miller

Examples of food insecure in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

More than 16% of its people are also food insecure, according to the 2024 Map the Meal Gap study by Feeding America, an organization which helps provide food assistance to the tribal food pantry on the reservation. —Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 23 Oct. 2024

Even with all this food waste, 15 million children still live in food insecure homes. —Matthew Glasser, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2024

It is estimated four out of every 10 students in the state’s universities are food insecure and not sure where their next meal will come from, Second Harvest officials emphasize. —Heather McRea, Orange County Register, 25 Sep. 2024

Ultimately, the system re-entrenches the cycle of poverty that made students food insecure in the first place. —Carrie Welton, TIME, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above