food insecure

adjective

variants: or less commonly food-insecure

|Updated on: 12 Aug 2018

Definition of 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

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food insecurity

noun

Recent Examples of food insecure from the Web

Both Cuyahoga and Franklin Counties have large numbers of residents who are considered food insecure, according to academic and government research.

— cleveland.com, "The 15 Ohio counties with the most (and 15 counties with the least) grocery stores per 1,000 people," 29 Mar. 2018
In Georgia, 14 percent of households are food insecure or struggle to afford a nutritionally adequate diet, according to data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

— nedra rhone, ajc, "Study: Minority of SNAP recipients spend benefits early in the month," 10 July 2018
Broward County has the highest percentage (14.3%) of food insecure individuals.

— marvin glassman, Jewish Journal, "Jewish Federation, Feeding South Florida partner to help needy," 5 July 2018
To date the event has raised about $10 million to fight hunger in Greater Houston with more than 30 million meals for the food insecure.

— greg morago, Houston Chronicle, "Houston Restaurant Weeks set for Aug. 1 to Sept. 3," 7 June 2018
United Nations officials in Cameroon say that 57 percent of rural people live in poverty and 10 percent are food insecure.

— elias ntungwe ngalame, The Christian Science Monitor, "Drought-hit Cameroon finds hope in seed farms," 14 Mar. 2018
Franklinville woman Nilsa Adorno is giving local families another kind of hope by being her neighborhood’s super hero and feeding food insecure kids this summer.

— aubrey nagle, Philly.com, "Philly fights summer hunger, school district plans massive cleanup | Morning Newsletter," 21 June 2018
Cuyahoga County has the highest number of food insecure residents in Ohio.

— shirley macfarland, cleveland.com, "Empty Bowls are filled with love and generosity: Talk of the Towns," 9 Feb. 2018
Children who are food insecure are twice as likely to be in poor health, studies show, and face the potential stunting of their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.

— alfred lubrano, Philly.com, "Hunger in Philly - 'It's a pain in my belly'," 18 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'food insecure.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.