hunger

American  

[huhng-ger] / ˈhʌŋ gər /

noun

1. a compelling need or desire for food.

2. the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food.

   to collapse from hunger.

3. a shortage of food; famine.

4. a strong or compelling desire or craving.

   hunger for power.

   Synonyms:

   itch, lust, greed, appetite

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verb (used without object)

1. to feel hunger; be hungry.

2. to have a strong desire.

verb (used with object)

1. Rare. to subject to hunger; starve.

idioms

1. from hunger, deplorably bad; dreadful: Also strictly from hunger.

   The styles in coats this winter are from hunger.

hunger British  

/ ˈhʌŋɡə /

noun

1. a feeling of pain, emptiness, or weakness induced by lack of food

2. an appetite, desire, need, or craving

   hunger for a woman

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verb

1. to have or cause to have a need or craving for food

2. (intr; usually foll by for or after) to have a great appetite or desire (for)

Other Word Forms

• half-hungered adjective
• hungeringly adverb
• prehunger noun

Etymology

Origin of hunger

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hungor; cognate with German Hunger

Example Sentences

Even a recurrent but unadorned lyric like “I hunger and thirst” becomes an instant earworm.

From Salon

And his character is complex in novel ways: The child of Chinese immigrants, Alexander was reared by people almost desperate to Americanize themselves, and he too has a hunger to be accepted.

From The Wall Street Journal

Two Navy sailors, Jefferson Jones and his pal, Sink, have been adrift on a raft for 18 days, long enough for hunger to curdle into imagination.

From Salon

A fourth remand detainee awaiting trial for alleged offences relating to the Palestine Action group has ended a hunger strike after more than 50 days.

From BBC

Some of the eight detainees who went on hunger strike had been charged over that incident.

From Barron's

Related Words

• craving
• desire
• famine
• greed
• longing
• lust
• starvation
• yearning