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Glite Dictionary
ill-fed

ill-fed

1 5.5
Not getting enough food to stay healthy
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪlˈfɛd/
: malnutrido
  • Yet there are those in this country who are ill-fed, ill-clothed, and ill-housed.
  • ill-fed and ill-clothed

Examples

  • Ill-fed, ill-clothed, so afflicted that even my presence brightens their day.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The tribes formed distinct political entities and lived by slash-and-burn and by shifting cultivation in the clearings, not rooted to any one place, ill-fed and, apart from a few coastal dwellers who had participated in trade, they led their traditional existence sheltered from the outside world, as if on another planet.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Owners of the slaves leased to Cuyler complained that their workers were ill-fed and ill-clothed.

    Academic text (2007)

  • George Bernard Shaw might have measured a suitable comment here: "But there are millions of poor people, abject people, dirty people, ill-fed, ill-clothed people," said Stephen Undershaft in Major Barbara.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Ill-fed children are more difficult to teach, and without an education, will simply repeat the cycle of poverty.

  • Yet there are those in this country who are ill-fed, ill-clothed, and ill-housed.

  • Factories are idle for lack of fuel, and ill-fed workers are reported to be dismantling factory machinery and bartering the scrap metal for food from China.

Synonyms

starving
vsill-fed
246 1.4

Very hungry and needing food now

describes a less severe condition of inadequate nourishment, not life threatening
starved
vsill-fed
38 2.1

A person or animal who is very hungry because they have no food

is milder, indicating ongoing inadequate nourishment rather than extreme hunger
malnourished
vsill-fed
19 5.6

A person or animal that does not have enough food and is weak

refers mainly to insufficient food intake rather than resulting health decline
famished
vsill-fed
  • Informal
18 5.1

Very hungry and needing to eat right away

describes a general inadequate nourishment state rather than sudden extreme hunger
emaciated
vsill-fed
11 7.8

Extremely thin from illness or lack of food with bones showing

focuses on insufficient food without highlighting thin physical appearance
underfed
vsill-fed
4 3.4

Not having enough food to be healthy

is the common everyday term for that same lack of nourishment
undernourished
vsill-fed
3 4.4

Not having enough food to stay healthy and grow

focuses more on simply not having enough food than on growth effects
unnourished
vsill-fed
1 7.5

Not having enough food or nutrients to grow and stay healthy

frames the situation as a lack of food rather than a missing provision act

Antonyms

well-fed
24 1.1

Not hungry because you have eaten enough food

nourished
7 2.7

Having enough good food to be healthy and grow

How Undernourished

starving
246 1.4
malnourished
19 5.6
ill-fed
1 5.5
underfed
4 3.4

Surface Forms

ill-fed positive

Morphology

ill-fed = fed (transparent) = ill + fed

Meaning is directly derived from the adverb 'ill' (badly) modifying the participle 'fed' to mean poorly fed.

Etymology

Ill-fed comes from ill- meaning 'bad' and fed from 'feed' meaning 'given food', so it means 'badly fed' or 'not having enough food'.