junk food

Definition of junk food

1 : food that is high in calories but low in nutritional content

2 : something that is appealing or enjoyable but of little or no real value video junk food

Examples of junk food in a Sentence

worrying about kids eating too much junk food eating too many junk foods

Recent Examples on the Web For our minds, the trick is to balance out the junk food with some mental kale. — Josh Linkner, Columnist, Detroit Free Press, "What are you feeding your mind? Hopefully not the mental equivalent of junk food," 14 Dec. 2019 Then, get ready to binge on some comfort/junk food in hunker-down mode. — Michael Mayo, sun-sentinel.com, "Hurricane Dorian food prep: Eating in and eating out before, during and after the storm," 29 Aug. 2019 In other words, 16 hours of fasting doesn’t compensate for eight hours of stuffing your face with junk food. — Claire Gillespie, Health.com, "Jennifer Aniston Says She's on the 16:8 Intermittent Fasting Diet—But What Is That?," 23 Oct. 2019 And food insecurity is linked to childhood obesity as families turn to cheap fast food and junk food to fill children’s stomachs. — Kate Santich, orlandosentinel.com, "Feeding Children Everywhere charity gets $1 million to address nationwide student hunger issue," 16 Oct. 2019 Michael is potty-mouthed, a seemingly endless consumer of junk food and addicted to violent video games. — The Economist, "Youth and age collide in Emma Donoghue’s new novel," 19 Sep. 2019 Cutting out junk food would mean slimming down their sales. — The Economist, "China worries about its bulging waistlines," 28 Oct. 2019 Putting hair aside, many see the president's two-hour rallies as proof of his health, regardless of his seemingly spray-on tan (the orange that launched a thousand memes) or his penchant for junk food. — Author: Roxanne Roberts, Anchorage Daily News, "The senior citizens running for president and how they try to look younger," 10 Nov. 2019 Putting hair aside, many see the president’s two-hour rallies as proof of his health, regardless of his seemingly spray-on tan (the orange that launched a thousand memes) or his penchant for junk food. — Washington Post, "Can we talk about the senior citizens running for president and how they try to look younger?," 6 Nov. 2019

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

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Last Updated

6 Jan 2020

Cite this Entry

“Junk food.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/junk%20food. Accessed 19 January 2020.

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