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

Food spoilage for people who are food insecure, transportation insecure so basically don't have extra money to run to the store, don't have a car to drive into a neighborhood that has power. —Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 13 July 2024

Around 15% of Mecklenburg County households are considered food insecure, according to national nonprofit Feeding America. —Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 24 June 2024

But in 2022, nearly 30 percent of people were moderately or severely food insecure, defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization as lacking regular access to safe and nutritious food. —Sam Delgado, Vox, 4 May 2024

According to recent data, nearly 20% of New Yorkers are currently living in poverty and are food insecure; wages are down; rents in NYC are up 965% since 1968; and the city’s housing supply and vacancy rate is at one of the lowest in history, at 1.4%: yet the RGB is again calling for an increase. —David R. Jones, New York Daily News, 28 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above