Food security: access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.

Food insecurity: the lack of access at times to enough food for an active, healthy life; limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods.

Low food security (formerly food insecure without hunger): reported reduction in quality, variety, or desirability of diet but little or no indication of reduced food intake.

Very low food security (formerly food insecure with hunger): reported reduction in food intake and disrupted eating patterns due to inadequate resources for food.

Hunger: the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food; an individual level physiological condition that may result from food insecurity. "A potential consequence of food insecurity that because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness, or pain that can go beyond the usual uneasy sensation."

Child Development: the ways in which children's bodies and brains grow, enabling them to obtain skills in developing language, memory, cognition, motor skills, behavior, perception, and social interaction.

Poverty thresholds: a set of dollar amounts the Census Bureau utilizes that vary by family size and composition in order to determine who is living in poverty.

Poverty guidelines: a simplified version of the poverty threshold that is used to determine financial eligibility for some federal programs.