HUNGER (hunger)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: hunger   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hunger mean? 

• HUNGER (noun)
  The noun HUNGER has 2 senses:

1. a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation

2. strong desire for something (not food or drink)

  Familiarity information: HUNGER used as a noun is rare.

• HUNGER (verb)
  The verb HUNGER has 3 senses:

1. feel the need to eat

2. have a craving, appetite, or great desire for

3. be hungry; go without food

  Familiarity information: HUNGER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HUNGER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

hunger; hungriness

Hypernyms ("hunger" is a kind of...):

drive (a physiological state corresponding to a strong need or desire)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hunger"):

bulimia (pathologically insatiable hunger (especially when caused by brain lesions))

emptiness (having an empty stomach)

edacity; esurience; ravenousness; voraciousness; voracity (excessive desire to eat)

famishment; starvation (a state of extreme hunger resulting from lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged period)

malnourishment; undernourishment (not having enough food to develop or function normally)

Derivation:

hunger (be hungry; go without food)

hunger (feel the need to eat)

hungry (feeling hunger; feeling a need or desire to eat food)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strong desire for something (not food or drink)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

hunger; hungriness; thirst; thirstiness

Context example:

hunger for affection

Hypernyms ("hunger" is a kind of...):

desire (an inclination to want things)

Derivation:

hunger (have a craving, appetite, or great desire for)

hungry ((usually followed by 'for') extremely desirous)

• HUNGER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they hunger    ... he / she / it hungers   
Past simple: hungered   
Past participle: hungered   
-ing form: hungering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feel the need to eat

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "hunger" is one way to...):

ache; hurt; smart (be the source of pain)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

hunger (a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have a craving, appetite, or great desire for

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

crave; hunger; lust; starve; thirst

Hypernyms (to "hunger" is one way to...):

desire; want (feel or have a desire for; want strongly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

hunger (strong desire for something (not food or drink))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be hungry; go without food

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

famish; hunger; starve

Context example:

Let's eat--I'm starving!

Hypernyms (to "hunger" is one way to...):

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

hunger (a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation)

 Context examples 

Here she was to stay for seven years without meat or drink, and die of hunger.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The old and the weak of them died of hunger.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Or if I escaped these dangers for a day or two, what could I expect but a miserable death of cold and hunger?

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

To remedy this, he ate as fast as they; and, so greatly did hunger compel him, he was not above taking what did not belong to him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

His hunger was driving him too compellingly—only—only he wondered if Bill, too, were lost.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I got ready food: but she would not eat, simply saying that she had not hunger.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

My wrists and arms ached intolerably, and though I had eaten heartily of a twelve-o’clock lunch, I had worked so hard that I was faint from hunger.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If she could feel hunger and thirst, and heat and cold, then could she feel love—and love for a man.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupendous mountains of Jura.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

This occurred around the same time that they reported increases in hunger and appetite.

(Molecular ties between lack of sleep and weight gain, NIH)