What does nutritious mean?
Nutritious is an adjective describing food, meals, or diets that provide the body with useful nourishment. It is commonly used when praising a meal as balanced, filling, and beneficial to health, as in a nutritious breakfast or a nutritious school lunch. The word suggests more than simply containing food: it implies that what is eaten supplies substances that support health, growth, energy, and the body's everyday functions. In everyday speech, nutritious is often contrasted with junk food or an unhealthy choice. It is a positive, widely understood term rather than a technical one, although nutritional is more common in scientific and dietary contexts. Because it focuses on the health-giving qualities of food, nutritious can also carry a mild implication of wholesomeness and responsible eating.
adjectiveProviding the substances the body needs to maintain health, growth, and energy. Used especially of food and meals.
- Providing nourishment or the substances needed for health and proper growth.
"The school serves nutritious lunches that are both filling and appealing to children."
"A nutritious breakfast can help you concentrate throughout the morning."
"The campaign promotes nutritious food and regular physical activity in local communities."
A nutritious food is not merely delicious: it helps the body grow, repair itself, and keep going.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does nutritious come from?
The word comes from Latin nutritus, the past participle of nutrire, meaning “to nourish” or “to feed.” It entered English during the Renaissance period and developed alongside related words such as nutrition, nutrient, and nutritive, all based on the same Latin root. The modern form reflects the long vowel sound and the characteristic -tious ending used in English adjectives.
Related word forms
How nutritious is actually used
Commonly used for food, meals, and diets. It is generally positive and practical, without the strongly formal tone of nutritional or the broader implications of healthful.
Easily confused with nutritious
Both words concern nourishment, but nutritious more commonly describes food or a meal that is good for the body, whereas nutritive is more formal and may describe something that nourishes or has nourishing properties.