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

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).

Example Sentences

There’s also a clear hunger for the type of whimsical, family-friendly entertainment that the theater provides.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

The popular medicines remove feelings of hunger by acting like a natural gut hormone that makes users feel full.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

Soleno, which develops treatments of rare diseases, is known for its Vykat XR drug to treat the extreme hunger caused by rare genetic disorder Prader-Willi syndrome.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

Researchers from the University of Concepción in Chile, working with colleagues at the University of Maryland, uncovered a previously unknown signaling pathway in the hypothalamus, the brain region that controls hunger and fullness.

From Science Daily • Apr. 6, 2026

Their classmates didn’t realize the cub was facing something even more dangerous than crocodiles or hunger.

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins

Related Words

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