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

Another study by the Williams Institute found that 27% of Texas LGBTQ+ adults are food insecure, compared with 16% of non-LGBTQ+ Texans. —Lily Kepner, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025

More than half of its residents were food insecure and under the poverty line, according to the UN. —Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN Money, 23 July 2025

For each meal purchased during Louisville Restaurant Week, $1 will be donated to Feed Louisville, a nonprofit that saves food from being thrown away and repurposes it into meals for the local homeless and food insecure community. —Amanda Hancock, The Courier-Journal, 2 July 2025

In Arkansas, where 1 in 5 children are food insecure and 1 in 3 children in rural counties are in that situation, the new law will have a devastating impact, said Tomekia Moore, executive director for Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association. —Arkansas Online, 27 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above