VocabauraVOCABAURA

food

noun

Simple meaning

Any solid substance that is used as a source of nourishment.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

food
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfud

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment

  2. uncountable

    Any solid substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

  3. uncountablefiguratively

    Anything that nourishes or sustains.

  4. countable

    A foodstuff.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any solid substance (as opposed to liquid) that is used as a source of nourishment

Used this way, food is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use food

  • “This restaurant serves delicious food from various international cuisines.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “food”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Solid

food intake

Substance

food supply

Other combinations

food productiongood foodsome foodfood processing

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • food and agriculture organizationnounCompound term

    The United Nations agency concerned with the international organization of food and agriculture.

  • food and agriculture organization of the united nationsnounCompound term

    The United Nations agency concerned with the international organization of food and agriculture.

  • food and drug administrationnounCompound term

    A federal agency in the Department of Health and Human Services established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products.

  • food banknounCompound term

    A place where food is contributed and made available to those in need.

  • food cachenounCompound term

    Food in a secure or hidden storage place.

  • food chainnounCompound term

    A community of organisms where each member is eaten in turn by another member.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “food” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.