empty calories

Idioms  

1. Food that has little or no nutritional value. For example, Snacking on beer and potato chips makes for a lot of empty calories. [1960s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

empty calories

Our physician father finally conceded that tonic water—thanks to drops of quinine—might not be a completely worthless mix of food coloring and empty calories.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

"It's like dumping empty calories into a system that's been running on a finely tuned diet for hundreds of years."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 8, 2025

And they should avoid empty calories and sugars that they’re not going to burn off.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2024

Just don’t expect intellectual nourishment; forgive me, I’m breaking my promise, but it’s mostly empty calories you’ll find in this sweet, down-market cornucopia.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023

Except for domesticated house pets, animals are sensible enough to prefer the most nutritional fare available and tend to shun empty calories unless they are starving.

From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Steve Solomon