hunger
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
-
hungers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hungered,
past participle, past
-
hungering
present participle
-
to feel hunger; be hungry.
-
to have a strong desire.
verb (used with object)
-
hungers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hungered,
past participle, past
-
hungering
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a feeling of pain, emptiness, or weakness induced by lack of food
-
an appetite, desire, need, or craving
hunger for a woman
verb
-
to have or cause to have a need or craving for food
-
(intr; usually foll by for or after) to have a great appetite or desire (for)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
hungersimple
-
hungerssimple
-
have hungeredperfect
-
has hungeredperfect
-
am hungeringprogressive
-
are hungeringprogressive
-
is hungeringprogressive
-
have been hungeringperfect progressive
-
has been hungeringperfect progressive
Past
-
hungeredsimple
-
had hungeredperfect
-
was hungeringprogressive
-
were hungeringprogressive
-
had been hungeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hunger
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hungor; cognate with German Hunger
Explanation
Hunger is the sensation of needing — or wanting — to eat something. People use the same word to describe a hankering for a snack or for the more dire meaning of starvation, as in "world hunger." Hunger sometimes refers to an extreme lack of food, the equivalent to starvation: "We need to do something about hunger in poor communities." It can also simply mean your afternoon craving: "My daily hunger for chocolate was distracting me from my work." You can also hunger for things, both food (like when you hunger for French fries) and non-food things (like when you hunger for attention).
Vocabulary lists containing hunger
Nutrition - Introductory
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Nutrition - Middle School
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Nutrition - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
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
The hunger for capital has pushed bond yields higher, even in sovereign debt.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Afghanistan has endured repeated hunger crises in recent decades as it has struggled through civil war and other crises.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
I stayed up many nights just to write, a hunger in my belly and a savage appetite.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
When the dragon had finally sated its hunger, it sat on Jeremy's desk, preening its scales with its beaky nose.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
Huge questions for a party that used to dominate Scottish politics and hungers for a way back to power at Holyrood.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
They are all citizens of winter, prey to the daily hungers of real life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Ng’s and Wong’s bodies have both known hungers of many kinds, inheriting their ancestors’ “insatiable” appetites — for food and water, but also for connection.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2023
“Yet, our nation hungers for their radical song. Let us not sit back silently...”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
They were not supposed to try and sate their hungers with demons and the dead.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Malcom McLean, a New Jersey commercial shipper who championed the new idea of prepacking cargo into big metal boxes, hungered for a Pentagon contract.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
That added to a quasi “gold rush” among investors who understandably hungered for a piece of the action.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 3, 2026
But business snapped back quickly, as audiences tired of virtual events and hungered to return to in-person screenings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2024
But beneath the bravado lies a wounded child — the boy who yearned for approval, who hungered for his father’s love but never got it.
From Salon ● May 6, 2024
I hungered to share the dominant assumptions of my time and act upon them.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
Her own audience, primed to look for conspiracy theories in the wake of a high-profile murder, had been hungering for Owens to challenge the widely accepted version of events.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2026
And students are hungering to be back in the hustle and bustle of campus life, Brumbaugh added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2022
Based on a 1992 movie, this musical features Billy Crystal returning to the role of Buddy Young Jr., a has-been comic who is hungering for a comeback and reconnecting with family.
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2022
“The country is very volatile and hungering for change,” he said.
From Washington Post ● May 27, 2022
But, of course, it was my body, hungering, biding its time against the tyranny of my spirit.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
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.
