food web

American

[food web] / ˈfud ˌwɛb /

noun

Ecology.

a series of organisms related by predator-prey and consumer-resource interactions; the entirety of interrelated food chains in an ecological community.

food web British

noun

a combination of food chains that integrate to form a network

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

food web Scientific

See under food chain

Etymology

Origin of food web

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Microplastics, along with ultra-tiny nanoplastics, can kill or severely sicken marine life before entering the food web and ultimately ending up on our plates.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

"The other thing we're trying to figure out is once these organisms fix the carbon into their cells, how does it become available to the rest of the food web?" she noted.

From Science Daily • Dec. 10, 2025

"As ice decreases in the future, we expect to see increased consumption of nutrients by phytoplankton in the Arctic, which has consequences for the food web," Pavia said.

From Science Daily • Nov. 13, 2025

They "play a central role in the food web, consuming fish and invertebrates and recycling nutrients" and are one of the "keystone species" of their ecosystem.

From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025

"That then cascades through the food web because without the invertebrates you don't get the birds who are reliant on them for food," Mr MacCarthy said.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023