food chain

noun

1

: an arrangement of the organisms of an ecological community according to the order of predation in which each uses the next usually lower member as a food source

2

: a hierarchy based on power or importance

at the top of the corporate food chain

Examples of food chain in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Analysis of zinc isotopes preserved in fossilized shark teeth, published in Nature Communications in 2022, found that when great white sharks and megalodon coexisted during the Pliocene, their diets overlapped significantly, both feeding high up the same food chain on marine mammals. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026

There remain many unanswered questions — including the identities of people on the criminal food chain between looters like Toek Tik and Latchford. — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 17 June 2026

The mom-to-be was next seen posing with her baby bump on show beside Sprouse, 33, while attending the soccer match with the fast food chain Raising Cane's. — Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 16 June 2026

With a steadily brightening Sun, when does the Earth either get too hot or too CO2-starved for the base of the food chain to survive? — Scott K. Johnson, ArsTechnica, 15 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1920, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for food chain

• abstain
• airplane
• alkane
• arcane
• arraign
• attain
• backplane
• betaine
• biplane
• blockchain
• butane
• campaign

Kids Definition

food chain

noun

: a series of organisms in which each uses the next usually lower member of the series as a food source