starve

[ stahrv ]

verb (used without object)

, starved, starv·ing.

1. to die or perish from lack of food or nourishment.
2. to be in the process of perishing or suffering severely from hunger.
3. to suffer from extreme poverty and need.
4. to feel a strong need or desire:

   The child was starving for affection.

5. Chiefly British Dialect. to perish or suffer extremely from cold.
6. Obsolete. to die.

verb (used with object)

, starved, starv·ing.

1. to cause to starve; kill, weaken, or reduce by lack of food.
2. to subdue, or force to some condition or action, by hunger:

   to starve a besieged garrison into a surrender.

3. to cause to suffer for lack of something needed or craved.
4. Chiefly British Dialect. to cause to perish, or to suffer extremely, from cold.

starve

/ stɑːv /

verb

1. to die or cause to die from lack of food
2. to deprive (a person or animal) or (of a person, etc) to be deprived of food
3. informal.
   intr to be very hungry
4. foll byof or for to deprive or be deprived (of something necessary), esp so as to cause suffering or malfunctioning

   the engine was starved of fuel

5. trfoll byinto to bring (to) a specified condition by starving

   to starve someone into submission

6. archaic.
   to be or cause to be extremely cold

Derived Forms

• ˈstarver, noun

Other Words From

• half-starved adjective
• half-starving adjective
• self-starved adjective
• un·starved adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of starve¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English sterven, Old English steorfan “to die”; cognate with German sterben

Word History and Origins

Origin of starve¹

Old English steorfan to die; related to Old Frisian sterva to die, Old High German sterban to die

Synonym Study

See hungry.

Example Sentences

However, Ava-Lea had been starved of oxygen as a result of breathing in meconium and died on 29 August, aged just 35 hours, the law firm said.

From BBC

The other fragrance is called Rozana, after a ship that was feverishly anticipated by people starving across Palestine, Lebanon and Syria after failed wheat harvests 100 years ago.

From BBC

Laboratory experiments with cancer cells reveal two ways in which tumors evade drugs designed to starve and kill them, a new study shows.

From Science Daily

While the damage was done for species like bison, which were often exterminated to starve Indigenous people, these laws helped wild turkeys bounce back across the country.

From Salon

As part of the therapy, now discredited, injections of insulin would plunge a patient into deep coma as the brain was starved of sugar.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cease
• forgo
• pass up
• quit
• refrain
• renounce
• shun
• withhold