MALNOURISHED Synonyms: 16 Similar and Opposite Words

malnourished

adjective

Definition of malnourished

as in starving

not eating enough food or not eating enough healthy food; poorly nourished The malnourished children were slowly nursed back to health.

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

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 malnourished Prosecutors said the woman was found Sunday naked and malnourished on a mat in the attic of a multifamily home on Summer Street. — Oscar Margain, NBC news, 28 Sep. 2026 Beck was playing a shabby, malnourished musician living in a shack who acts as an emissary of a weird celebrity cult. — Josephine Reisman, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026 Additionally, 205 clinics used to feed malnourished kids have closed due to a lack of funding, according to UNICEF. — Durrie Bouscaren, NPR, 31 Aug. 2026 Packets of fortified peanut paste that cost less than a dollar each can bring a malnourished child back from the brink of death within weeks. — ABC News, 13 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for malnourished

Recent Examples of Synonyms for malnourished

Adjective

Torosian had told the prosecutor’s office that an undernourished, severely disabled girl who was receiving treatment at BioMed was subsisting entirely on spinach—on Kotthaus’s orders.

— D. T. Max, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
The risk of a bad outcome is higher for people who are undernourished and unable to access supportive medical care.

— Kathryn H. Jacobsen, The Conversation, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of undernourished

Adjective

Parched fields force hydroponic growers, vegetable farmers and fruit producers to halt harvests, sell off underfed livestock at rock-bottom prices and even return to mechanic jobs to survive.

— Dánica Coto, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
What began as a niche repertory experiment now spans nearly 100 theaters across 73 cities and eight countries, suggesting the Cinematheque’s gleefully nihilistic concept has tapped into a seriously underfed audience.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 4 May 2026

Definition of underfed

Adjective

Investors hungry for a piece of those profits dove in, pushing some stocks up by double or more.

— ABC News, ABC News, 7 Nov. 2026
After a campaign season filled with outrage against data centers, the midterm elections ushered in a wave of Democrats pledging to clamp down on the energy-hungry behemoths.

— Marc Levy, Chicago Tribune, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of hungry

Browse Nearby Words

malls

malnourished

malnutrition

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Malnourished.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malnourished. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of malnourished

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

wabi-sabi

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes