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starve
[stahrv]
verb (used without object)
to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.
to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.
to suffer from extreme poverty and need.
to feel a strong need or desire.
The child was starving for affection.
Chiefly British Dialect., to perish or suffer extremely from cold.
Obsolete., to die.
verb (used with object)
to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.
to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger.
to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.
to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.
Chiefly British Dialect., to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.
starve
/ stɑːv /
verb
to die or cause to die from lack of food
to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food
informal, (intr) to be very hungry
to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioning
the engine was starved of fuel
to bring (to) a specified condition by starving
to starve someone into submission
archaic, to be or cause to be extremely cold
Other Word Forms
- starver noun
- half-starved adjective
- half-starving adjective
- self-starved adjective
- unstarved adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of starve1
Word History and Origins
Origin of starve1
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
“People don’t need to be starving. People don’t need to be worried about their kids’ health insurance,” Blitsch said.
Activists say the city has become "an open-air morgue" for starved civilians.
"He's a human skeleton. He was being starved to the point where he can be dead at any moment," said his brother Ilay.
He and his co-stars starved themselves for their performances in the project, which got great reviews and little notice in the U.S.
He told Johnson about watching his baby sister starve to death and being orphaned by the Khmer Rouge.
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