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

A colony of macaques that gorge on snacks offered by tourists in the British territory of Gibraltar swallow soil to recover from their junk food binges, a study has found.

From Barron's • May 22, 2026

All too many of the newer ones are investment junk food.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

Read more: The U.S. is about to define what junk food is.

From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026

Everything from diabetes to schizophrenia, he claims, is caused by Americans being junk food junkies.

From Salon • May 18, 2026

It was unlike Katz not to fall upon soft drinks and junk food with exuberant lust when the opportunity presented itself, but I believe I understood.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson