junk food
43
1.0
- noun
- /dʒʌŋk fuːd/
:
comida basura
- He decided to stop eating junk food because it was making him feel tired and sluggish.
- eat junk food
And it's calling to me that that junk food is my monkey on my back.
- And it's calling to me that that junk food is my monkey on my back.
- And that is the secret to most junk food.
- Throw out the junk food in the cupboard and stick to eating real foods.
- No, and definitely not all this junk food.
- I thought the key thing was calories or not eating junk food.
- So stop being selfish, Put away that junk food and make babies.
- Guys, this junk food, no real Whole Foods, no plants, no fruits.
Examples
-
Let's go get some junk food.
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You want some junk food?
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Pretty big fan of junk food in general and just never got fired up.
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I told you the smell of junk food would wake her up.
-
- All you have here is junk food!
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I'm trying really hard to give up junk food moving forward.
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I think we deserve a little junk food after the workout we had this morning.
Fiction book (1999) -
I was heading to the supermarket, where I intended to stock up on junk food for the days ahead.
Fiction book (1996) -
Throw out the junk food in the cupboard and stick to eating real foods.
-
If you kept eating junk food you wouldn't be hungry, but you're not nourished.
Synonyms
A food that has a lot of calories and is often unhealthy
How Healthy
30
3.4
43
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is straightforwardly compositional: 'junk' (worthless, low-quality) modifies 'food', so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'food of low nutritional/value or quality' and thus the idea of unhealthy tasty items. This pattern (modifier + noun conveying poor quality) is common cross-linguistically, making the sense accessible without prior exposure.
Etymology
Junk food may come from the word junk, which means 'trash', and food, making a picture of food that looks like trash because it has little nutrition. So, junk food now means food that tastes good but is unhealthy.