food insecure

adjective

variants or less commonly food-insecure
: 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
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Nearly 13 million people across the country are estimated to be food insecure, the agency said. Camilla Alcini, ABC News, 10 Dec. 2024 Little Free Pantry — Launched from Fayetteville, this is a movement to help the food insecure all over the country. Worth Sparkman, Axios, 2 Dec. 2024 Of the thousands of veterans surveyed by Yale School of Medicine's Veterans Aging Cohort Study, 24% reported being food insecure. Pilar Arias, Fox News, 27 Nov. 2024 Meanwhile, according to Feeding America, a U.S. hunger relief nonprofit, 1 in 9 working-age veterans are food insecure. Rachel Dobkin, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for food insecure 

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of food insecure was in 1977

Dictionary Entries Near food insecure

Cite this Entry

“Food insecure.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/food%20insecure. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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