empty calorie
noun
1.
a calorie whose source has little or no nutritional value:
Junk food has only empty calories.
Origin
1965-70,
Americanism
Contemporary definitions for
empty calories
plural noun
calories obtained from food having no nutrients
Idioms and Phrases with
empty calories
empty calories
Food that has little or no nutritional value. For example,
Snacking on beer and potato chips makes for a lot of empty calories
.
[
1960s
]