verb
-
to give too little food to
-
to supply (a furnace, engine, etc) with fuel from beneath
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
underfeedsimple
-
underfeedssimple
-
have underfedperfect
-
has underfedperfect
-
am underfeedingprogressive
-
are underfeedingprogressive
-
is underfeedingprogressive
-
have been underfeedingperfect progressive
-
has been underfeedingperfect progressive
Past
-
underfedsimple
-
had underfedperfect
-
was underfeedingprogressive
-
were underfeedingprogressive
-
had been underfeedingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of underfeed
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Under an unwise or indolent herder the sheep going on an unaccustomed trail will overtravel and underfeed, until in the midst of good pasture they starve upon their feet.
From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Robert Ezra Park
A great many breeders underfeed their young stock to stop growth, which I believe to be a very grave mistake.
From The Boston Terrier and All About It A Practical, Scientific, and Up to Date Guide to the Breeding of the American Dog by Edward Axtell
Those who take foods which are stimulants are very likely to overeat, and when they leave off their stimulants they are equally likely to underfeed themselves.
From The Healthy Life, Vol. V, Nos. 24-28 The Independent Health Magazine by Charles William Daniel
But many farmers about here will overwork and underfeed all the week, and on Sunday talk about being 'merciful to their beasts.'
From Opening a Chestnut Burr by Edward Payson Roe
One of these boilers is equipped with a Jones underfeed stoker, and is baffled in the regular way.
From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 Federal Investigations of Mine Accidents, Structural Materials and Fuels. Paper No. 1171 by Herbert M. Wilson
"Oh, pretty good," said the little woman, shrugging her shoulders, "though they do say she overcharges and underfeeds her lodgers."
From The Silent House by Fergus Hume
The author observes that “workers under the OT generally suffered the worst possible conditions because the agency specialized in construction,” which meant laboring outside in extreme weather, even while sick, underfed and exhausted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025
Others were dehydrated, underfed, injured or living in poor conditions, including one building that did not have air conditioning.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
The young, underfed Hirschman’s baggy pants and worn leather jacket demonstrate his rebel and refugee status.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
Enlisted members of the Nationalist army were often underfed and scorned by their officers, and many ran away or defected to the CCP.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
Then at the others, the underfed, the incompetent, shakily having their first lessons with a knife or an ax.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
Many were Wurtembergers, and these for the most part appeared to be quite fit and sturdy, but if you looked at them closely you could see the effects of long, systematic underfeeding.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 24, 2018
The counterintuitive observation that underfeeding animals can lengthen their lives is an old one.
From Slate ● Jun. 15, 2018
That court order stems from a legal action that the Southern Center brought against Sheriff Franklin’s predecessor, Greg Bartlett, who had been underfeeding inmates while taking $212,000 in food money for his personal use.
From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2017
In a separate project, Dewhurst is analysing levels of exhaled ketones and sulfides in cow breath to reveal underfeeding and tissue breakdown or excess protein in their diet.
From Nature ● Apr. 25, 2017
This may be, and often is, only temporary, due to overwork, underfeeding, overconfinement, or that form of gradual suffocation which we politely term inadequate ventilation.
From Preventable Diseases by Woods Hutchinson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
