WordGarden.iounderfeed
C2Pronunciation
UK
US
Meanings
Verb
to give too little food or nourishment to a person or animal
to feed fuel or other material into a burner or similar device from below
Beyond the definition
Imagine a baby bird in its nest. If the mother gives it too little to eat, the chick grows weak instead of strong. That is the basic idea of underfeed: to give a person or animal less food than they need.
The word is usually used when the lack of food is serious enough to affect health, growth, or strength. A child, a pet, or farm animals can all be underfed if they are not given enough to eat over time.
To underfeed means to give too little food to a person or animal. It suggests more than just one small missed meal; it usually describes a situation in which someone or something is fed so poorly that health, growth, energy, or strength suffers.
You might use it for children, prisoners, pets, or farm animals. For example, a neglected dog may be underfed, or cattle may become underfed during a hard winter if their owner does not provide enough feed. In each case, the idea is the same: the body is not getting the food it needs.
There is also a rarer technical use in which underfeed can mean to supply fuel from below, especially in older industrial contexts such as furnaces. However, in ordinary English, the word almost always refers to not giving enough food. Whether it is used for people or animals, it carries a clear sense of harm, neglect, or poor care.
Examples
- 1
Pet health
If you underfeed a growing puppy, it can develop health problems.
- 2
Livestock
The horses looked thin because they had been underfed all winter.
- 3
Humanitarian aid
Aid workers reported that many children in the area were underfed for months.
See also
Similar
Shades of meaning
- malnourish
- skimp on feeding
Contrast
Used with (collocations)
- underfeed a child
- underfeed livestock
- chronically underfeed
Word family
Explore
- food insecurity
- calorie deficit
Forms and spellings
7 forms open this card.
Main spelling
- underfeedverb
Forms
- under-fedpast tensepast participleverb
- under-feeding-ing formverb
- under-feedsverb
- underfedpast tensepast participleverb
- underfeeding-ing formverb
- underfeedsverb