Word.ws English Dictionary

junk drink

/ˈdʒʌŋk dɹɪŋk/

junk drink noun: a beverage with little or no nutritional value, often high in sugar, caffeine, or additives.

Noun

junk drink (countable and uncountable, plural junk drinks)

  1. (informal) A beverage with little or no nutritional value, often high in sugar, caffeine, or additives.
    • He was trying to quit energy drinks and other junk drinks.
    • Last year, as the idea of implementing soda taxes heated up, I noticed the junk drink industry dusting off the same playbook. […] Statewide, 75% believe regularly consuming junk drinks like Coke, Pepsi, or Mountain Dew “definitely increases” a person’s chance of becoming overweight or obese.2013 February 25, Anthony B. Iton, “Junk-drink industry fuels nation's obesity crisis”, in Capitol Weekly, archived from the original on 25 Feb 2021
    Synonyms:
    junk beverage
  2. (especially) Any alcoholic beverage, considered harmful, addictive, or of low quality.
    • After years of junk drinks and hangovers, she finally gave up alcohol.
    • Thinking of alcohol as junk food can bring a new perspective to those who are trying to change their drinking habits, and it can strip away a lot of the glamour that the advertisers and sommeliers have sought to instil in their wares.2021 May 12, “Alcohol and junk food”, in Hello Sunday Morning

Synonyms of junk drink

Forms of junk drink

pluraljunk drinks

Origin of junk drink

Modeled after junk food; from junk (“worthless or of poor quality”) + drink. The term extends the metaphor of low-quality or unhealthy items from food to beverages, highlighting lack of nutritional value or potential harm.

Questions about junk drink

What does junk drink mean?
Junk drink means a beverage with little or no nutritional value, often high in sugar, caffeine, or additives.
What part of speech is junk drink?
Junk drink is a noun.
How do you pronounce junk drink?
Junk drink is pronounced /ˈdʒʌŋk dɹɪŋk/.
What is the plural of junk drink?
The plural of junk drink is junk drinks.

Words near junk drink in the dictionary

  1. junk DNAs
  2. junk dollar
  3. junk dollars
  4. junk drawer
  5. junk drawers
  6. junk drink
  7. junk drinks
  8. junk email
  9. junk emails
  10. junk fee
  11. junk fees

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: junk drink (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “junk drink.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/junk_drink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.