famine
Americannoun
-
extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area.
-
any extreme and general scarcity.
- Synonyms:
- scantness, meagerness, poverty, paucity, dearth
-
extreme hunger; starvation.
noun
-
a severe shortage of food, as through crop failure or overpopulation
-
acute shortage of anything
-
violent hunger
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of famine
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Middle French, derivative of faim “hunger,” from Latin famēs; cf. famish
Explanation
A famine is a severe shortage of food, but not the "I forgot to go to the grocery store and there's nothing to eat in the house" type of shortage. A famine is usually caused by crop failure or disaster. Although the "extreme shortage of food" meaning is most common, the noun famine can also mean any shortage or insufficiency, and it is often used idiomatically in the phrase "feast or famine." This usage refers to something that is alternately plentiful and scarce — like the feast and famine experienced by an artist who only occasionally sells his paintings.
Vocabulary lists containing famine
St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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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.
“It’s like you have a famine, and you’ve only got food for 15% of the people,” Culhane said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2026
Mamdani continued: “These are people who fled earthquakes, famine, war and political violence,” he said in a statement.
From Salon • Jun. 30, 2026
Your spending won’t swing chaotically between feast and famine.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
An estimated three million people died in eastern India in the Bengal famine, but the nature of the wartime British prime minister's role in it has long been subject to academic dispute.
From BBC • Jun. 22, 2026
Every year that same number of Europeans—Irish and Germans mostly, fleeing famine and political unpleasantness—streamed into the harbors of Boston, New York, Philadelphia.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
