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empty calories

plural noun

: calories from food that supply energy but have little or no nutritional value

Examples of empty calories in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
While a visual feast that gives some of its stars a chance to have fun, the show is empty calories. Tom Smyth, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2025 But LaVine is 30 years of age and has been to the playoffs just once in 11 previous seasons, and he's regarded by many as an empty calories player. Robert Marvi, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Nov. 2025 For now, what the big outlets want to give us is bleak cookie-cutter prestige dramas like Black Rabbit, a show and restaurant that offer the empty calories of star power but no nutritional value. Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025 But the season 3 hot dogs aren’t just empty calories. Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for empty calories

Word History

First Known Use

1955, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of empty calories was in 1955

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Cite this Entry

“Empty calories.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empty%20calories. Accessed 28 Nov. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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