STARVING

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does starving mean? 

• STARVING (noun)
  The noun STARVING has 1 sense:

1. the act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine

  Familiarity information: STARVING used as a noun is very rare.

• STARVING (adjective)
  The adjective STARVING has 1 sense:

1. suffering from lack of food

  Familiarity information: STARVING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STARVING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

starvation; starving

Context example:

they were charged with the starvation of children in their care

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

deprivation; privation (act of depriving someone of food or money or rights)

Derivation:

starve (deprive of food)

• STARVING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suffering from lack of food

Synonyms:

starved; starving

Similar:

malnourished (not being provided with adequate nourishment)

 Context examples 

Not only were the starving wolves growing bolder, but lack of sleep was telling upon Henry.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Lord Roxton had had nothing but some fruit since the morning before and ate like a starving man.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"It keeps better there. No danger of my starving. Look at that."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

All said I was wicked, and perhaps I might be so; what thought had I been but just conceiving of starving myself to death?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The grasslands the animals depend on for food dried up and watering holes disappeared, leaving many animals starving or weak from hunger.

(Born during a drought: Bad news for baboons, NSF)

These biscuits, should anything befall me, would keep me, at least, from starving till far on in the next day.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Continued eutrophication essentially kills a lake, with an overgrowth of algae starving its waters of oxygen and leaving fish and other freshwater species unable to breathe.

(Ancient lakes: eyes into the past, and the future, National Science Foundation)

I could not take it, if I was starving.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was aware of a hungry out-reaching for her, as of a starving man for bread.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She was pretty and soft, but she weighed one hundred and twenty pounds—a lusty last straw to the load dragged by the weak and starving animals.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)