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

Fast food chains across the country are getting in the spooky season spirit with the return of Halloween buckets. —Marina Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal, 7 Oct. 2025

That will lead to more PFAS in wastewater and hence in biosolids resulting from wastewater treatment, much of which ends up in fertilizer and then enters our food chain. —Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025

Adding to that causes ocean acidification, which can disrupt marine food chains and reduce biodiversity. —Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 6 Oct. 2025

Around the same time, thousands of endemic water snails, which form a crucial part of the lagoon’s food chain, washed up dead on the shore. —Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 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