food chains

plural of food chain
as in hierarchies
a series of types of living things in which each one uses the next lower member of the series as a source of food Sharks eat fish that are lower in the food chain. animals that are at the top of the food chain

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of food chains On Friday, July 17, Taylor Farms — which supplies produce for pre-packaged salads in grocery stores and ingredients for fast food chains — announced a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce sourced to the region by the FDA. Joseph Konig, PEOPLE, 21 July 2026 Some food chains are ready to deal with any barriers to growth because there are so many consumers in the state. Lily Wright, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026 Americans are making fewer visits to food chains with lettuce-heavy menus as concerns mount over the cyclospora outbreak. Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Money, 20 July 2026 High Street leaned heavily collegiate, lined with pizza parlors, student bars, and familiar franchised food chains. Rafael Pena, Travel + Leisure, 12 July 2026 Fast food chains such as Taco Bell, McDonald's and Wendy's also have footprints at Walmart stores, along with several regional operators such as Auntie Anne's. Nicholas P. Brown, USA Today, 8 June 2026 Italy’s already squeezed farmers are under strain by large supermarket and food chains. Matteo Moschella, NBC news, 4 June 2026 Here are the latest specials and deals announced by fast food chains in news releases, social media posts, or on their websites. Fielding Buck, Oc Register, 3 June 2026 Which fast food chains use beef tallow today Beef tallow never disappeared entirely, and a handful of chains have either kept it or brought it back. Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Kansas City Star, 18 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for food chains
Noun
  • There's this near total erasure based on what the AI, just scraping Instagram, scraping faces, scraping the kind of racial hierarchies and preferences that are built into every system in our country.
    Tonya Mosley, NPR, 22 July 2026
  • Languages also encode values—gender hierarchies baked into pronouns, honorifics that perpetuate caste distinctions—that liberal-minded activists may not be eager to preserve as valuable pieces of linguistic heritage.
    Nikhil Krishnan, New Yorker, 20 July 2026
Noun
  • Scale and proportion also play a major role in helping groupings look balanced.
    Colleen Sullivan, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 July 2026
  • When in a forest, stay in proximity to shorter tree groupings.
    STAR-TELEGRAM WEATHER BOT, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 July 2026
Noun
  • After spells at Le Havre, ASPTT Marseille and Nationals of Cavigal, RB Leipzig pounced last summer to sign him from the amateur ranks of French football.
    Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 22 July 2026
  • Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the day, with the most significant cuts being made among the ranks of behind-the-scenes staffers.
    Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 21 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Food chains.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/food%20chains. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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