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

And the cotton candy slush isn’t the only drink arriving at the fast food chain this summer. —Bailey Richards, People.com, 7 July 2025

The location was the 3227 West Addison Street branch of the popular Mexican fast food chain in Chicago, Illinois. —Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 July 2025

So which companies are at the top of the food chain in 2025? —Hadley Hitson, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025

Eat Fish and Seafood Fish are believed to get vitamin D from the food chain, which starts with plankton. —Brittany Lubeck, Verywell Health, 20 June 2025

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