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

And even before October 2023, Israel and Egypt had imposed a partial blockade on Gaza, meaning that 63% of the population was food insecure, according to the UN. —Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 3 June 2025

Adults with medical debt burdens are two to three times more likely to be food insecure, delay or forgo necessary medical care or prescriptions and experience housing instability than those without this burden, according to the data. —Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2025

And even before October 2023, Israel and Egypt had imposed a partial blockade on Gaza, meaning that 63% of the population was food insecure. —Mick Krever, CNN Money, 15 May 2025

This 2022 survey commissioned by UFCW found that over three quarters of Kroger workers were food insecure and fourteen percent were housing insecure. —Errol Schweizer, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above