junk food

American  

noun

1. food, as potato chips or candy, that is high in calories but of little nutritional value.

2. anything that is attractive and diverting but of negligible substance.

   the junk food offered by daytime television.

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junk food British  

noun

1. food that is low in nutritional value, often highly processed or ready-prepared, and eaten instead of or in addition to well-balanced meals

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junk food Idioms  

1. Prepackaged snack food that is high in calories but low in nutritional value; also, anything attractive but negligible in value. For example, Nell loves potato chips and other junk food, or When I'm sick in bed I often resort to TV soap operas and similar junk food. [c. 1970]

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Other Word Forms

• junk-food adjective

Etymology

Origin of junk food

An Americanism dating back to 1970–75

Example Sentences

"My mom explained to me that social media is junk food for the brain," she says.

From BBC

The meals inside, she said, were mostly junk food.

From Los Angeles Times

The meme is a prime example of brain rot, the internet junk food consumed by people of all ages to suck away time, productivity and the living of life.

From The Wall Street Journal

If social media is the junk food you’re trying to cut out, budgeting and saving strategies are the fruits and vegetables you’re trying to eat more.

From MarketWatch

Lay’s is America’s top-selling brand of potato chips, a category synonymous with junk food.

From The Wall Street Journal