diet

¹ American  

[dahy-it] / ˈdaɪ ɪt /

noun

1. food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health.

   The ad shows milk and dairy as a wholesome part of our daily diet.

2. a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease.

   A diet low in sugar is often recommended for diabetes prevention.

3. a selection of food that emphasizes caloric restriction or otherwise limits the amount a person eats, usually intended to induce weight loss.

   No pie for me, I'm on a diet.

4. the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group.

   The Mediterranean diet consists historically of fish, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts.

5. food or feed habitually eaten or provided.

   The rabbits were fed a diet of carrots and lettuce.

6. anything that is habitually provided or partaken of.

   Television has given us a steady diet of reality shows and police procedurals.

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adjective

1. suitable for consumption as part of a selection of food intended to induce weight loss.

   I usually drink diet soft drinks.

2. formulated to be lower in calories, fat, sugar, etc. than a similar food.

   The diet version of the cookie does taste different.

verb (used without object)

• diets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dieted,
  past participle,  past
• dieting
  present participle

1. to select or limit the food one eats to improve one's physical condition or to lose weight.

   I've dieted all month and lost only one pound.

2. to eat or feed according to the requirements of a particular or prescribed selection of food.

verb (used with object)

• diets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• dieted,
  past participle,  past
• dieting
  present participle

1. to regulate the food of, especially in order to improve the physical condition.

   They dieted the dog to a healthy weight of 20 pounds.

2. to feed.

diet ² American  

[dahy-it] / ˈdaɪ ɪt /

noun

1. the legislative body of certain countries, as Japan.

2. the general assembly of the estates of the former Holy Roman Empire.

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diet ¹ British  

/ ˈdaɪət /

noun

1. 1. a specific allowance or selection of food, esp prescribed to control weight or in disorders in which certain foods are contraindicated

      a salt-free diet

      a 900-calorie diet

   2. ( as modifier )

      a diet bread

2. the food and drink that a person or animal regularly consumes

   a diet of nuts and water

3. regular activities or occupations

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verb

1. (usually intr) to follow or cause to follow a dietary regimen

diet ² British  

/ ˈdaɪət /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a legislative assembly in various countries, such as Japan

2. Also called: Reichstag.  (sometimes capital) the assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire

3. Scots law

   1. the date fixed by a court for hearing a case

   2. a single session of a court

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dieter
  noun
• nondieter
  noun
• nondieting
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• dieting
  present
• dieted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• diet
  simple
• diets
  simple
• have dieted
  perfect
• has dieted
  perfect
• am dieting
  progressive
• are dieting
  progressive
• is dieting
  progressive
• have been dieting
  perfect progressive
• has been dieting
  perfect progressive

Past

• dieted
  simple
• had dieted
  perfect
• was dieting
  progressive
• were dieting
  progressive
• had been dieting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will diet
  simple
• will have dieted
  perfect
• will be dieting
  progressive
• will have been dieting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of diet¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English noun diete “day’s journey, appointed day, way of living,” from Anglo-French, Old French diete, from Latin diaeta, from Greek díaita “way of living, diet,” equivalent to dia- dia- + -aita (akin to aîsa “share, lot”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of diet²

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Medieval Latin diēta “public assembly,” the same word as Latin diaeta with sense affected by Latin diēs “day”; see diet ¹

Explanation

Diet means the usual food and drink consumed by a person or animal. A healthy diet for your pet is not the same as your diet, so you shouldn't feed your dog all your table scraps. If you limit the number of calories you eat in order to lose weight, or restrict certain foods for your health, you can also call this a diet. If you want to lose 10 pounds by summer, you might have to go on a diet. In certain countries, the word diet, though pronounced the same, has a non-food related meaning: the diet is the legislative branch of the government in countries like Japan.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

diet diets dieted dieting

Makers of Abondance cheese in the Alps, for example, will be authorised to reduce the amount of pastured grass in their animals' diet from 50% to 15%.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Kander’s kosher cooking classes instructed young women how to cook American food within the restrictions of a traditional Jewish diet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Marshaling an encyclopedic body of evolutionary and anthropological evidence, Mr. Lieberman, a paleoanthropologist at Harvard University, aims to dispel the monolithic thinking that dominates our approach to diet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

"I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets."

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

When he was a captive cub, Xiang Xiang’s diet had been subsidized with manufactured foods packed with nutrients.

From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh

The problem most contemporary diets address is obesity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

We also found that even in adulthood, they continued to consume less sugar and had healthier diets overall.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026

Daniel E. Lieberman has studied the diets of indigenous cultures worldwide, from the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer people in Tanzania, to Maasai herders in Kenya and the Tarahumara Native Americans of northern Mexico.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

"I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren't in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets."

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Prisoners with pellagra, the result of a lack of protein and niacin in their diets, suffered weakness, skin lesions, diarrhea, and dementia.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

“I just couldn’t look like that no matter how much I dieted or went to the gym.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

“Apartments without dining rooms, as if anticipating a future where families disintegrated, compulsively dieted, or ate alone, in front of televisions.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024

For example, one study revealed that compared with daughters of nondieting women, 5-year-old girls whose mothers dieted were aware of the connection between dieting and thinness.

From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2024

The sales rep said: "I yo-yo dieted my whole life, for 30 years, and I got my sleeve two years ago."

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2024

He dieted on eggs and cottage cheese three or four times a year.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

“Lisa” represents a woman in her late 30s or 40s with a long history of dieting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

"The results of our study indicate intermittent fasting could offer an alternative pathway for people who find conventional dieting challenging."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026

The study examined not only how much weight people lost, but also how different dieting approaches affected eating habits, mood, sleep, and overall quality of life.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026

The loss of lean tissue is similar to weight loss from dieting, but the magnitude over a short period can lead to frailty, instability and lack of coordination, doctors and researchers say.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 17, 2026

It’s that vicious dieting cycle, like when I was younger.

From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy