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

Liverpool are simply higher up the food chain — although the apex predator remains Real Madrid, who captured Trent Alexander-Arnold from Anfield earlier in the summer. —Oliver Kay, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2025

Scientists say these have contaminated the soil, filled our oceans, disrupted food chains and penetrated most people’s organs and bones. —Jia H. Jung, Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2025

Autistic people are disproportionately vulnerable to chronic health conditions such as dysautonomia, gastric and/or allergy disorders, which would benefit from a less polluted, cleaner food chain. —Nancy Doyle, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025

These population shifts can cause what’s known as a trophic cascade, an ecological process in which a change in the population of a top predator affects other species lower in the food chain, triggering a chain reaction. —Madison Dapcevich, Outside, 29 Aug. 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