undernourish
Deprive of nutrients
To undernourish is to provide insufficient food or nutrients for health and growth.
The word appears almost exclusively as the past participle: undernourished children, an undernourished population.
Someone undernourished shows signs of malnutrition—stunted growth, weakness, susceptibility to illness.
The term applies literally to inadequate diet but extends to anything starved of what it needs: an undernourished imagination.
Severe food shortage
- hungerNeed for nourishment
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
- wastingUsing poorly, inefficiently
Arrested in development
- underweightBelow normal mass
- gauntLean from deprivation
- frailWeak and breakable
- wastedUsed without good result
Disease from dietary inadequacy
- underfedLacking adequate food
- subsistenceMinimal means of living
Red cell deficiency
- ricketsNutritional bone-weakening illness
- scurvyVitamin C deficiency disease
- pellagraNiacin-lack illness
- beriberiVitamin B1 deficiency disease
malabsorption · hypoglycemia · osteoporosis · goiter · edema · fatigue · pallor
Severe lack of resources
- neglectFailure to provide care
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- aidSupport given freely
- humanitarianHelper of suffering people
refugee · displacement · war · sanctions · rationing · generational
famine
Severe food shortage
- hungerNeed for nourishment
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
stunted
Arrested in development
- underweightBelow normal mass
- gauntLean from deprivation
- frailWeak and breakable
malnutrition
Disease from dietary inadequacy
- underfedLacking adequate food
- subsistenceMinimal means of living
anemia
Red cell deficiency
- ricketsNutritional bone-weakening illness
- scurvyVitamin C deficiency disease
- pellagraNiacin-lack illness
beriberi · malabsorption · hypoglycemia · osteoporosis · goiter · edema · fatigue · pallor
poverty
Severe lack of resources
- neglectFailure to provide care
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- aidSupport given freely
humanitarian · refugee · displacement · war · sanctions · rationing · generational