as in starving
not eating enough food or not eating enough healthy food; poorly nourished
The malnourished children were slowly nursed back to health.
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Recent Examples of malnourished
The mother of the malnourished and badly bruised youngster, Dominque Servant, 33, has been charged, alongside her boyfriend, Joey Ruffin, 38, with causing Markell’s death in February.
—
Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 8 Apr. 2026
The Directorate General of Health Services said unvaccinated children or those who have not completed the two-dose measles schedule face the greatest risk and that malnourished children are particularly prone to severe complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis.
—Reuters, NBC news, 2 Apr. 2026
Potential causes that were discussed included hypothermia and cardiac arrest due to his malnourished state.
—Michael Nied, PEOPLE, 31 Mar. 2026
Wolozin said that basic childhood illnesses such as ear infections can become dangerous in Dilley because children are often sleep-deprived and malnourished.
—Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malnourished
Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 8 Apr. 2026
The Directorate General of Health Services said unvaccinated children or those who have not completed the two-dose measles schedule face the greatest risk and that malnourished children are particularly prone to severe complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis.
—Reuters, NBC news, 2 Apr. 2026
Potential causes that were discussed included hypothermia and cardiac arrest due to his malnourished state.
—Michael Nied, PEOPLE, 31 Mar. 2026
Wolozin said that basic childhood illnesses such as ear infections can become dangerous in Dilley because children are often sleep-deprived and malnourished.
—Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malnourished
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malnourished
Adjective
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The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices in Haiti to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals.—
Evens Sanon,
Los Angeles Times,
12 Apr. 2026
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The conflict in Iran has caused oil prices in Haiti to surge, disrupting critical supply chains, doubling transportation costs and forcing millions of undernourished people to cut back on already scarce meals.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
11 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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And a large part of that spending is going directly into RAM- and storage-hungry GPUs and data centers, in turn leading to the very component supply crunch that is forcing Meta to raise prices on Quest headsets.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
17 Apr. 2026
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The roadside eatery held the promise of tacos, burritos or whatever else our hungry hiker appetites desired.—
Patrick Connolly,
The Orlando Sentinel,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Malnourished.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malnourished. Accessed 23 Apr. 2026.
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