-
hunger strike
hunger strikenouna deliberate refusal to eat, undertaken in protest against imprisonment, improper treatment, objectionable conditions, etc.
-
hunger-strike
hunger-strikeverb (used without object)to go on a hunger strike.
hunger strike
1 Americannoun
verb (used without object)
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:
Gabriela Soto, the wife of Martin Soto, a leader of the hunger strike, recalled her experiences with ICE attempting to move her husband from Delaney Hall, which was ultimately successful.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
Craig and Lindsay Foreman have both been on hunger strike since May, when prison authorities preventing them from calling their families.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
"It is our duty to raise our voice," the 59-year-old, who remains on hunger strike at the protest site, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Starting on May 19, detainees launched a labor and hunger strike within Delaney Hall, which quickly became a hot spot for anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests and organizing.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The warden threatened that if Alice Paul did not end her hunger strike she would be transferred to Saint Elizabeth’s Insane Asylum.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
![]()
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
"We must have a hunger-strike till he apologises," said the thin hen importantly.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, March 28, 1917 by Various
Italian embassies all over the world are at risk of anarchist attacks linked to the case of the hunger-striking Alfredo Cospito, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Tuesday.
From Reuters ● Jan. 31, 2023
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
Navy Capt. John Robinson, a spokesman for the prison, said in a statement that an 11-year-old military policy permitting the involuntary feeding of hunger-striking detainees remained in effect.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2017
“We cannot picture Miss Austen addressing, far less interrupting, a public meeting,” Bertha Brewster, a hunger-striking suffragette wrote, “but we can very well imagine her making fun of Mr Arnold Ward’s speeches.”
From Economist ● Jul. 13, 2017
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 Onions, Mrs. Oliver
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
![]()
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.