junk food

noun

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

The Navajo Nation was the first to pass a junk food tax within the continental United States, in direct response to high rates of diabetes. — Parvannah Lee, Teen Vogue, "I'm From the Navajo Nation and I Want to Help My Community Get Healthy Food," 22 Nov. 2018 Facebook peddles the information equivalent of junk food, relying on people's addictive tendencies to maximize consumption. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Sorry Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook isn’t a “positive force”," 21 Nov. 2018 But the point of the keto debate is not comparing it to junk food, but rather the benefits of a Mediterranean-style eating plan. — Jaclyn London, Ms, Rd, Cdn, Good Housekeeping, "The 5 Most Common Arguments for the Keto Diet, Debunked," 28 Aug. 2018 Two days later on July 13, foodies (and junk food junkies) celebrate National French Fry Day, when many chains offer free or discounted fries. — Chris Morris, Fortune, "7-Eleven Is Giving Out Free Slurpees Wednesday—and There's More Free Food For Days to Follow," 10 July 2018 But critics worry that this practice may make something that’s essentially junk food appear to be healthy because the label touts its fiber content. — Consumer Reports, Washington Post, "Fiber has surprising anti-aging benefits, but most people don’t eat enough of it," 30 Apr. 2018 The takeaway is this: The millions of kids who follow sports leagues are being saturated with messages about junk food, from Doritos to Skittles to soda. — Julia Belluz, Vox, "How sports leagues like the NFL are fanning the childhood obesity epidemic," 27 Mar. 2018 Nobody's saying that junk food in schools is harmless. — Charlotte Hilton Andersen, Redbook, "Parenting," 25 Jan. 2012 But the company seems to be playing favorites with its junk food. — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, "Costco's Food Court Is Getting Rid of the Polish Dog—It's Not Even the Most Unhealthy Thing on the Menu," 12 July 2018

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.