famine
extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area.
any extreme and general scarcity.
extreme hunger; starvation.
Origin of famine
1Other words for famine
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use famine in a sentence
But in the great famines, as in India and Russia, God allows millions to die of starvation.
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordI had heard that the Irish, in one of their famines, had been fed with corn-meal, learning to eat and even to like it.
My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands | George Francis TrainTwo severe famines marked the beginning and the close of this period.
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir | Sir James McCrone DouieI was born during World War Three and grew up with the famines and the mass insanities that followed.
The Sensitive Man | Poul William AndersonThe reign of Claudius was afflicted almost every year by partial famines.
The Apostles | Ernest Renan
British Dictionary definitions for famine
/ (ˈfæmɪn) /
a severe shortage of food, as through crop failure or overpopulation
acute shortage of anything
violent hunger
Origin of famine
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with famine
see feast or famine.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse