malnourished

adjective

Definition of malnourishednext
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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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 Los Angeles Zoo In 1967, Topa Topa was rescued from the Ventura County mountains as a one-year-old, weak and malnourished. — Julie Sharp, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026 Warming temperatures and shifts in sea ice in the Arctic are disrupting the food web gray whales rely on during summer feeding months, according to a 2023 study in Science, leaving many malnourished during migration. — ABC News, 20 May 2026 Clinics treating malnourished children in Somalia have had to cut rations, with almost 500,000 children under five in the country facing severe acute malnutrition, Reuters reported. — semafor.com, 28 Apr. 2026 Zoo announces third death, a sloth named Dumpling So far, three of 13 malnourished sloths have not survived after they were taken in by Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford, about 25 miles from Orlando. — Julia Gomez, USA Today, 6 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for malnourished
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malnourished
  1. undernourished
  2. underfed
  3. hungry
Adjective
  • Nursing mothers had to travel farther to find food, leaving many pups undernourished and leading to thousands of strandings along the California coast.
    — Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 2 July 2026
  • In undernourished individuals, the immune system may not generate sufficient or lasting protection, thereby reducing vaccine efficacy.
    — Michael J. Nyenhuis, Forbes.com, 7 May 2026
Definition of undernourished
Adjective
  • 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
  • But be warned, reservations are a must — BoccaLupo is bustling with hungry diners from open to close.
    — Blair Crosby, AJC.com, 5 July 2026
  • Reinventing the aliens' origin story — as nomadic, resource-hungry scavengers — just made sense in the cynical '90s.
    — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 4 July 2026
Definition of hungry

Browse Nearby Words

malls
malnourished
malnutrition
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Cite this Entry

“Malnourished.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malnourished. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on malnourished

Nglish: Translation of malnourished for Spanish Speakers

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