nutritional deficiency resulting from lack of food or from the inability of the body to convert or absorb it
Word origin
[1895–1900; under- + nutrition]This word is first recorded in the period 1895–1900. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Marxism, calling card, cutback, frame of reference, slapstickunder- is a prefixal use of under, as to indicate place or situation below or beneath (underbrush; undertow); lower in grade or dignity (undersheriff; understudy); of lesser degree, extent, or amount (undersized); or insufficiency (underfeed)
Examples of 'undernutrition' in a sentence
undernutrition
The health and social care cost of this undernutrition is more than 19bn annually.