starve

[stahrv]

verb (used without object)

starved, starving 

1. to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.

2. to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.

3. to suffer from extreme poverty and need.

4. to feel a strong need or desire.

   The child was starving for affection.

5. Chiefly British Dialect.,  to perish or suffer extremely from cold.

6. Obsolete.,  to die.

verb (used with object)

starved, starving 

1. to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.

2. to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger.

   to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.

3. to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.

4. Chiefly British Dialect.,  to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.

starve

/ stɑːv /

verb

1. to die or cause to die from lack of food

2. to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food

3. informal,  (intr) to be very hungry

4. to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioning

   the engine was starved of fuel

5. to bring (to) a specified condition by starving

   to starve someone into submission

6. archaic,  to be or cause to be extremely cold

Other Word Forms

• half-starved adjective
• half-starving adjective
• self-starved adjective
• unstarved adjective
• starver noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of starve¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English sterven, Old English steorfan “to die”; cognate with German sterben

Word History and Origins

Origin of starve¹

Old English steorfan to die; related to Old Frisian sterva to die, Old High German sterban to die

Synonym Study

See hungry.

Example Sentences

And as the government shutdown starves the markets of official data, any individual announcement from a company can take on more meaning.

Read more on MarketWatch

"I see more and more beggars in town as people are starving. People have no jobs and so the election seems like a distant prospect. They have no time to be interested in it."

Read more on Barron's

"He's a human skeleton. He was being starved to the point where he can be dead at any moment, and he suffers a great deal," Ilay said at the time.

Read more on BBC

“You starve your public schools to feed your private schools and charter schools,” said Nashoba Superintendent Charles Caughern Jr. “Our foundation was set up for a free and appropriate education for all kids. All kids!”

Read more on Salon

But this would lock the GOP into another year of Joe Biden spending levels, starve the military, and infuriate House conservatives who were promised an end to government by continuing resolution or omnibus.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cease 
• forgo 
• pass up 
• quit 
• refrain 
• renounce 
• shun 
• withhold