Meaning & use
nutritious
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Containing substances that your body needs to stay healthy and grow.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after linking verbs: nutritious food; the meal was nutritious. Can be compared: more nutritious, most nutritious.
Patterns
- nutritious food
- nutritious meal
- highly nutritious
Children need nutritious meals to grow properly.
Fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious.
This soup is both delicious and nutritious.
Word forms
| comparative | more nutritious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most nutritious |
Common combinations
- nutritious food
- The school provides nutritious food for all students.
- nutritious meal
- She prepared a nutritious meal with fresh vegetables.
- highly nutritious
- Quinoa is highly nutritious and rich in protein.
- nutritious diet
- A nutritious diet includes a variety of foods.
- nutritious snack
- Nuts make a nutritious snack between meals.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nourishing
- Similar, but often emphasizes the process of giving strength and growth; nutritious focuses on the content of nutrients.
- healthy
- Healthy can mean not sick or good for your health; nutritious specifically means full of nutrients.
- wholesome
- Wholesome suggests natural and morally good food; nutritious is more scientific about nutrients.
Opposites
Word family
- nutrition noun
- The process of getting the food your body needs.
- nutrient noun
- A substance in food that your body needs.
- nutritional adjective
- Relating to nutrition, often used for information: nutritional value.
- nutritionist noun
- A person who studies or advises on nutrition.
- nutritiously adverb
- In a nutritious way.
Commonly confused: nutritious or nutritional?
nutritious vs nutritional
Nutritious describes food that is good for you; nutritional describes information about nutrition, like a nutritional label.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'nutritious' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Nutritious describes food that contains nutrients; a breakfast can be nutritious. The other options incorrectly use it to describe information, a person, or advice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nutritious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.