hunger
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
to feel hunger; be hungry.
-
to have a strong desire.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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a feeling of pain, emptiness, or weakness induced by lack of food
-
an appetite, desire, need, or craving
hunger for a woman
verb
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to have or cause to have a need or craving for food
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(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
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hungersimple
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hungerssimple
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have hungeredperfect
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has hungeredperfect
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are hungeringprogressive
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am hungeringprogressive
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is hungeringprogressive
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have been hungeringperfect progressive
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has been hungeringperfect progressive
Past
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hungeredsimple
-
had hungeredperfect
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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.
Hunger, cravings, mood, reward, and metabolism are all shaped by biological signals.
From Science Daily • May 31, 2026
Hunger drove some to the fringes of human behavior.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
US author Suzanne Collins won the children's fiction category for Sunrise On The Reaping, a prequel to the series The Hunger Games.
From BBC • May 11, 2026
Hunger and mental health issues feed off each other, said Mariana Chilton, a professor in the department of nutrition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026
Hunger sharpened her skills, and Frightful was upon it before it reached the fortress.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
Definitions 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.
