Skip to main content
hunger

hunger

69 3.2
A strong desire for something, like success or knowledge
  • noun
  • /ˈhʌŋɡər/
: ansia
  • Her hunger for knowledge drove her to read countless books.
  • hunger for knowledge
  • insatiable hunger
  • hunger for power

Wait, there's a hunger in me that is still not satisfied.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I, I do have a glimmer of hope that there seems to be more and more hunger for authenticity.

  • Wait, there's a hunger in me that is still not satisfied.

  • Love is always a hunger for beauty.

  • And so they, there is this hunger for something to believe in.

  • But then I met you, and I felt this hunger, deep down inside.

  • "There are needs of the soul that go beyond the hunger of the body."

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Let us just say, shall we, they have a great hunger for religion.

  • Hunger can change everything you ever thought you knew about yourself.

  • I think there's a hunger out there in the world.

  • Really, what they brought with them was very little materially, but they brought this hunger for independence, this hunger for freedom.

Synonyms

desire
vshunger
∞ 1.6

A strong wish to have or experience something

is narrower, referring specifically to wanting non-food things
appetite
vshunger
299 2.1

A desire to eat or to have new experiences

restricts use to wants that exclude food and eating desires
craving
vshunger
78 3.7

A very strong desire for things like food or cigarettes

limits this idea to desires that are not about food or drink
thirst
vshunger
40 3.6

A strong wish to have or achieve something

focuses specifically on desires that exclude food or drink
yen
vshunger
5 7.5

A strong desire for something

is the broader label for ongoing non-food cravings rather than sudden urges
thirstiness
vshunger
3.5

A strong desire for things like knowledge or success

applies more broadly to any non-food desire not only intangibles
7.0

A very strong wish for more that cannot be satisfied

is a general non-food desire without implying endless intensity
hungriness
vshunger
5.9

A strong desire to get or achieve something

is the standard term for non-food craving without extra intensity
appetence
vshunger
9.9

A strong desire to have or do something

emphasizes that the desire excludes food or drink rather than bodily urges
appetency
vshunger
9.9

A strong wish to have or try something

is focused on non-food wants rather than general inner feeling
appetition
vshunger
  • Archaic
9.9

A natural desire to eat or drink

is about non-food wants and does not stress bodily needs

Antonyms

192 2.2

A pleasant feeling when you achieve something or your needs are met

71 4.6

Lack of interest or concern about something

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

obsession
262 5.1
hunger
69 3.2
craving
78 3.7
desire
∞ 1.6
to interest
206 1.0

Surface Forms

hunger singular
hungers plural

Etymology

Hunger also came to mean any strong desire beyond food because its root is the same as hungry, so a 'hunger' for knowledge or success is like a deep, driving need.