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hunger

hunger

266 1.0
A feeling of weakness and discomfort when you need food
  • noun
  • /ˈhʌŋɡər/
translation icon : hambre
  • After skipping breakfast, I felt a sharp pang of hunger before lunch.
  • a hunger strike
  • poverty and hunger
  • die of hunger

And millions of American children experience hunger every month.

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Examples

  • When she realized that it was hunger that had woken her, she almost cried with relief.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • And millions of American children experience hunger every month.

  • You feel it now, the hunger?

  • Poor countries which are already facing widespread hunger will feel the pain the most.

  • From 1990 to the present, hunger and extreme poverty have continued to rise.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Oh, I'm feeling weak... with hunger!

  • My own stomach is stuck to my backbone from hunger.

  • That child deserves a world without extreme hunger and dependence that it fosters.

  • The bishops noted the irony of intransigent hunger and poverty in a world of unprecedented wealth and resources.

    Academic text (2015)
  • The four youngest Jacksons fell on the food with renewed hunger, but Mandy ate a little more cautiously.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

appetite
vshunger
299 2.1

A desire to eat or to have new experiences

is narrower, focusing on bodily weakness from not having food
craving
vshunger
78 3.7

A very strong desire for things like food or cigarettes

describes an ongoing physical need that causes discomfort rather than a brief want
hungriness
vshunger
1.0

A strong need for food that makes you want to eat

is the more common term for the same feeling
ravenousness
vshunger
7.7

Very strong hunger that makes you want to eat a lot

describes a milder physical discomfort and weakness from lack of food
esurience
vshunger
9.9

A very strong hunger that makes you eat a lot

focuses on bodily discomfort and need rather than greedy intensity
appetition
vshunger
  • Archaic
9.9

A natural desire to eat or drink

emphasizes physical weakness and discomfort caused by lack of food
appetency
vshunger
9.9

A strong wish to have or try something

centres on physical need and the discomfort that lack of food causes

Antonyms

1 6.6

A feeling of being full after eating enough food

Idioms

7 8.6

Because someone feels very hungry

Compounds

29 3.2

To refuse to eat as a way to protest or demand change

A strong, lasting wish to learn new things

A strong wish to try exciting or unusual experiences

9.8

A strong feeling or sound in the stomach that tells you to eat soon

hunger march
  • Archaic
6.5

A march of people without work to demand jobs or food

hunger marcher
  • Archaic
8.5

A person who walks in a protest to ask for food and jobs

A very strong desire to control other people

A famine in Ireland from 1846 to 1851 caused by a potato disease that forced many people to leave

How Hungry

starvation
83 4.7
hunger
266 1.0
tummy rumble
  • Informal
1 4.4
appetite
299 2.1

Surface Forms

hunger singular
hungers plural

Etymology

Hunger as a noun comes from an old English word meaning 'need for food', so hunger names the body's uncomfortable feeling or weakness when you must eat.