starve
Americanverb (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.
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
Synonym Usage
See hungry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
starvernoun
-
half-starvedadjective
-
half-starvingadjective
-
self-starvedadjective
-
unstarvedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
starvesimple
-
starvessimple
-
have starvedperfect
-
has starvedperfect
-
am starvingprogressive
-
are starvingprogressive
-
is starvingprogressive
-
have been starvingperfect progressive
-
has been starvingperfect progressive
Past
-
starvedsimple
-
had starvedperfect
-
was starvingprogressive
-
were starvingprogressive
-
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"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Excerpt from "A Raisin in the Sun"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Experts warned that Ukraine is Europe’s breadbasket and Europe would starve.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
Core to that agreement is that the public be left with adequate access to food and water, and there can be no strikes to starve the population or force the displacement of civilians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
“You’re going to probably starve the person to death before you starve the cancer to death,” she said.
From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026
Sir Keir Starmer said the move would starve "Putin's war machine of the dirty profits that fund his barbaric campaign".
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
“Nope. I was about to starve to death.”
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
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
This causes accelerated growth of algae and other plant life in a process called eutrophication which starves other organisms like fish of oxygen.
From BBC ● May 24, 2024
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
“Nobody in Germany starves, and few, if any, go hungry,” he wrote.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
"The Knicks unite the city unlike any other team. We were starved for so long," said Anthony Martorelli, a 29-year-old retail worker.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
The biggest criticism of the new cars this year has been the engines were energy starved because it was too difficult to recover sufficient energy around a lap to meet the maximum allowance.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
"The first time I saw those clips of people, children starved… it was horrific. And I think that was a moment of truth for me," Leke said.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
The current standoff at the crucial waterway has starved the market of roughly 10 million barrels of oil per day, according to Manish Raj, managing director at Velandera Energy Partners.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 24, 2026
They called him Cinderella Man, because he starved through the Depression, like the rest of us, but somehow fought out of the darkness to become the champion.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
That’s necessary magic in an age that’s starving for it.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
The oil could also lead to birds sinking and drowning, it said, and the loss of a parent could lead to gull chicks starving to death.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
The first shot has a miserable grandeur: a frigid landscape, frozen berries and wind so strong it nearly blows a starving traveler sideways.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
A preliminary report was published on 12 July last year, finding that just seconds after take-off, fuel-control switches abruptly moved to the "cut-off" position, starving the engines of fuel and triggering total power loss.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
A starving Greek community defies Nazi soldiers by hanging out thousands of forbidden national flags.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
