hunger
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
hungers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hungered,
past participle, past
-
hungering
present participle
-
to feel hunger; be hungry.
-
to have a strong desire.
verb (used with object)
-
hungers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hungered,
past participle, past
-
hungering
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a feeling of pain, emptiness, or weakness induced by lack of food
-
an appetite, desire, need, or craving
hunger for a woman
verb
-
to have or cause to have a need or craving for food
-
(intr; usually foll by for or after) to have a great appetite or desire (for)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hungersimple
-
hungerssimple
-
have hungeredperfect
-
has hungeredperfect
-
am hungeringprogressive
-
are hungeringprogressive
-
is hungeringprogressive
-
have been hungeringperfect progressive
-
has been hungeringperfect progressive
Past
-
hungeredsimple
-
had hungeredperfect
-
was hungeringprogressive
-
were hungeringprogressive
-
had been hungeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hunger
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hungor; cognate with German Hunger
Explanation
Hunger is the sensation of needing — or wanting — to eat something. People use the same word to describe a hankering for a snack or for the more dire meaning of starvation, as in "world hunger." Hunger sometimes refers to an extreme lack of food, the equivalent to starvation: "We need to do something about hunger in poor communities." It can also simply mean your afternoon craving: "My daily hunger for chocolate was distracting me from my work." You can also hunger for things, both food (like when you hunger for French fries) and non-food things (like when you hunger for attention).
Vocabulary lists containing hunger
Nutrition - Introductory
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Nutrition - Middle School
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Nutrition - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
In his third term he has overseen a drop in inflation and unemployment, and lifted millions out of hunger, but voters complain about a high cost of living and are fed up with crime.
From Barron's ● Oct. 25, 2026
That was particularly unexpected because retatrutide is designed to suppress hunger, and its Phase 2 clinical trials primarily identified digestive problems as the most frequent side effects.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
He believes there is still a deep hunger for Cole’s history, its French dip and its setting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
That changed after 28 June, when educationist and scientist Sonam Wangchuk began a hunger strike in CJP's support and Neha and a few others from Aisa also joined him.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“Come on, I’ve got a first aid kit in the theater,” she said, doing her best to ignore her roaring hunger.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Huge questions for a party that used to dominate Scottish politics and hungers for a way back to power at Holyrood.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
No one hungers for the bad old days—the infamous “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline ran just months before PS1 opened—but it’s hard not to be nostalgic for the art world of the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
Wong hungers for familiarity with her Chinese name, the memory of which has become so faint she calls upon her mother to repeat it to her.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2023
The series sticks with that impetus while expanding our view into the part of Ellie that hungers for family and true care.
From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2023
Some hungers were delusional, but that didn’t make them any less real.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Malcom McLean, a New Jersey commercial shipper who championed the new idea of prepacking cargo into big metal boxes, hungered for a Pentagon contract.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
That added to a quasi “gold rush” among investors who understandably hungered for a piece of the action.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 3, 2026
Enjoying heavy rotation on MTV on the wings of “Dancing with Myself” and “White Wedding,” his audience hungered for more.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2024
Tom was of course not a nincompoop, but a serious, thoughtful person who hungered to add substance to sketch comedy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2023
He slept not, for there was no sleep; he hungered not, for as yet there was no hunger.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Her own audience, primed to look for conspiracy theories in the wake of a high-profile murder, had been hungering for Owens to challenge the widely accepted version of events.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
Cheered on by a studio audience hungering for fireworks and fisticuffs — “Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 27, 2023
“Our audiences are hungering for an authentic experience, the work of art placed in front of them,” Mr. Steward said.
From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
Any hoops fan hungering for a return to normal this March might have looked at the bracket when it finally came out and wondered what ever changed.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2022
But, of course, it was my body, hungering, biding its time against the tyranny of my spirit.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
