Meaning & use
malnutrition
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablemedical
A health problem caused by not getting enough food or not getting the right mix of nutrients.
Grammar: No plural and no 'a'; say 'suffers from malnutrition', not 'a malnutrition'.
Patterns
- suffer from malnutrition
- malnutrition in children
- severe malnutrition
- cause malnutrition
Aid workers reported widespread malnutrition among children in the camps.
Long-term malnutrition can damage a child's physical and mental development.
The clinic treats patients for malnutrition as well as infection.
noununcountablemedicaltechnical
A lack of specific nutrients even when a person eats plenty of calories.
Grammar: Used in medical writing to make clear that the problem is diet quality, not simply hunger.
Patterns
- nutritional malnutrition
- hidden malnutrition
- malnutrition of vitamins
People who eat mostly processed food can develop malnutrition of certain vitamins.
Doctors warned that obesity and malnutrition can exist in the same person.
Her diet was high in calories but led to malnutrition because it lacked iron.
Common combinations
- suffer from malnutrition
- Many refugees suffer from malnutrition after months without proper food.
- severe malnutrition
- Severe malnutrition left him too weak to walk.
- chronic malnutrition
- Chronic malnutrition affects growth over many years.
- malnutrition rates
- Malnutrition rates fell after the feeding program began.
- a form of malnutrition
- A diet of only rice can be a form of malnutrition.
Synonyms and how they differ
- undernourishment
- Focuses on not having enough food or energy, while malnutrition also covers an unbalanced diet with plenty of calories.
- starvation
- Much stronger: it means extreme, life-threatening lack of food, whereas malnutrition can be mild or caused by poor diet quality.
Opposites
Word family
- malnourished adjective
- Describing someone who is suffering from malnutrition.
- nutrition noun
- The process of getting the food and nutrients the body needs.
- nutritional adjective
- Relating to nutrition or nutrients.
- nutrient noun
- A substance in food that the body needs, such as a vitamin or mineral.
Commonly confused: malnutrition or undernutrition?
malnutrition vs undernutrition
Undernutrition means not getting enough food overall; malnutrition is broader and includes eating enough calories but missing key nutrients.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'malnutrition' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Malnutrition' is uncountable, so it takes no article and no plural, and you 'suffer from' it. Options with 'a', '-s', or 'was' treat it like a countable or adjectival word, which is wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “malnutrition”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.