hunger strike
noun
a deliberate refusal to eat, undertaken in protest against imprisonment, improper treatment, objectionable conditions, etc.
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hunger strike
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hunger-strike
hunger-strikeverb (used without object)to go on a hunger strike.
hunger strike
1 Americannoun
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hunger strikes
plural
hunger-strike
2
American
[huhng-ger-strahyk]
/ ˈhʌŋ gərˌstraɪk /
verb (used without object)
hunger-struck,
hunger-striking
hunger strike
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hunger strike1
First recorded in 1885–90
Origin of hunger-strike2
First recorded in 1910–15
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:
He once joined a five-day hunger strike in support of hotel workers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Jailed since 2021, Chow has undertaken a hunger strike every June to commemorate the 1989 anniversary.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
As 1931 dragged on and they remained imprisoned without trial, the couple resorted to a hunger strike in protest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Pavel Kushnir died in a pre-trial detention centre during a hunger strike.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Then, again led by Paul and Burns, they went on a hunger strike, a strategy designed to attract public attention to what the denial of women’s right to vote had led to.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
She began recounting her story in media interviews and on Palm Sunday 1996 began a weeks-long hunger-strike and vigil in Lafayette Square outside the White House.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 19, 2021
They conducted a week-long "hunger-strike" in protest, claiming that the British government had not done enough to help their son.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2017
Elshamy's younger brother Mosa'ab, an award-winning independent photojournalist, said on Monday night that the move marked a "huge victory" for the reporter, whom the authorities had denied was undergoing a hunger-strike.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 16, 2014
“This was a very short hunger-strike and was not widely discussed or reported like most things in Bagram,” he said.
From Newsweek ● Sep. 2, 2013
"That is the essence of a hunger-strike," said the thin hen.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, March 28, 1917 by Various
That changed on 18 July when Delhi police forcibly removed and hospitalised hunger-striking educator Sonam Wangchuk.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
JERICHO, West Bank – A Palestinian court on Thursday extended the detention of a hunger-striking Palestinian-American activist who claims she was tortured in captivity.
From Fox News ● Dec. 6, 2018
But around Sept. 19, guards stopped taking hunger-striking detainees to feeding stations, said Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer for the international human rights organization Reprieve.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2017
He drew international attention by hunger-striking during his 12 years of occasionally confrontational confinement at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2016
Mr. Burke allowed all the noble reproach of a hunger-striking suffragist to appear in those blue eyes of his as he looked down at me.
From Miss Million's Maid A Romance of Love and Fortune by Mrs. Oliver Onions
One day last fortnight, after 650 of the prison's 1,414 prisoners had yammered, clamored and "hunger-struck" against the prison food and discipline, six ringleaders were thrust into "The Klondike."
From Time Magazine Archive
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