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

“You can’t walk in the grocery store without seeing protein in bold letters, and it’s mostly in junk food.”

From The Wall Street Journal

New regulations come into force Monday in Britain banning daytime TV and online adverts for so-called junk foods, in what the government calls a "world-leading action" to tackle childhood obesity.

From Barron's

But Ms Wiseman suggests the new measures introduced today to restrict TV and online advertising of junk food – or officially "less healthy food" – will only go so far.

From BBC

Insider buying has been active recently in several stocks in this space, suggesting that investor negativity on junk food is overdone.

From MarketWatch

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

From BBC