underfeed

Imagine a baby bird in its nest. If the mother gives it too little to eat, the chick grows weak instead of strong. That is the basic idea of underfeed: to give a person or animal less food than they need.

The word is usually used when the lack of food is serious enough to affect health, growth, or strength. A child, a pet, or farm animals can all be underfed if they are not given enough to eat over time.

To underfeed means to give too little food to a person or animal. It suggests more than just one small missed meal; it usually describes a situation in which someone or something is fed so poorly that health, growth, energy, or strength suffers.

You might use it for children, prisoners, pets, or farm animals. For example, a neglected dog may be underfed, or cattle may become underfed during a hard winter if their owner does not provide enough feed. In each case, the idea is the same: the body is not getting the food it needs.

There is also a rarer technical use in which underfeed can mean to supply fuel from below, especially in older industrial contexts such as furnaces. However, in ordinary English, the word almost always refers to not giving enough food. Whether it is used for people or animals, it carries a clear sense of harm, neglect, or poor care.