starve
Americanverb (used without object)
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starves,
present (3rd person singular)
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starved,
past participle, past
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starving
present participle
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to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.
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to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.
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to suffer from extreme poverty and need.
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to feel a strong need or desire.
The child was starving for affection.
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Chiefly British Dialect. to perish or suffer extremely from cold.
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Obsolete. to die.
verb (used with object)
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starves,
present (3rd person singular)
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starved,
past participle, past
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starving
present participle
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to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.
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to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger.
to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.
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to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.
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Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.
verb
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to die or cause to die from lack of food
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to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food
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informal (intr) to be very hungry
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to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioning
the engine was starved of fuel
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to bring (to) a specified condition by starving
to starve someone into submission
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archaic to be or cause to be extremely cold
Synonym Usage
See hungry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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starvernoun
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half-starvedadjective
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half-starvingadjective
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self-starvedadjective
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unstarvedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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starvesimple
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starvessimple
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have starvedperfect
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has starvedperfect
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am starvingprogressive
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are starvingprogressive
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is starvingprogressive
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have been starvingperfect progressive
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has been starvingperfect progressive
Past
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starvedsimple
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had starvedperfect
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was starvingprogressive
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were starvingprogressive
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had been starvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of starve
First recorded before 1000; Middle English sterven, Old English steorfan “to die”; cognate with German sterben
Explanation
The verb starve means suffering or death caused by a lack of food, though people also use it as a dramatic way to say they are hungry, as in, "If we don't start cooking dinner now, I think I'll starve." The word starve has origins in the Old English word steorfan, meaning “to die.” It is true that if you don't eat for a period of time, you could starve, meaning die from hunger. Today, starve is also used to describe less severe limitations on food, such as when you tell your friend, "I have to go to lunch now. I'm starving." This is a way of describing discomfort caused by hunger.
Vocabulary lists containing starve
"When Cultures Meet"
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Excerpt from "A Raisin in the Sun"
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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:
The research was prompted over concerns birds could "starve" if they confuse the nurdles for food and fill their stomachs.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Environmental advocates say it would starve the Delta of needed water and threaten fish that are already in severe decline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Joshua Kushner and his family, one imagines, will not starve.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
However, not only do these chemicals affect the bees directly, they can also remove important plants that they rely on for food causing them to starve.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
In my mind was Granny Mallon’s voice: “Without potatoes we will starve to death.”
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
And as the government shutdown starves the markets of official data, any individual announcement from a company can take on more meaning.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2025
It isolates the cell from the surrounding tissue and essentially starves it of nutrients.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 28, 2024
Granted, the holiest of high holidays in all of American sportsballs never starves for attention.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2024
The poison starves the body's cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2023
Since we are all supposed to be equal, if one person starves, then all should starve.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
For years, the housing market has been starved for inventory with sellers opting to stay put in order to hold on to their low mortgage rates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Has your group been starved for funding for some time, a sign executives are prioritizing other departments?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
For Delhi, which is starved of foreign investment, the Japanese money comes at a crucial time.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Many schools, especially in rural India, are starved of funding and in disrepair.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Next to them I am a starved, scrawny prison rat.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
The goal should be to finance their growth without starving the rest of the economy of capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
“That’s starving the world of diesel,” York said, just as demand for the fuel is picking up.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
“We are starving the Bay-Delta estuary now, and we know that that needs to change if we actually want to preserve that ecosystem and all the benefits it provides,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
"People have no idea where to evacuate. There's been no government advice. Many have fled to the hills and are starving."
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“For the seeking of a piggy, there are many great lords in the forest, riding with frightening shouts. They would not be cruel to starving Gurgi—oh, no—they would feed him...”
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
