starvation
NounUS[stahr-vey-shuhn]/stɑrˈveɪʃən/3 syllables
Open English WordNet
Noun (2)
- a state of extreme hunger resulting from lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged periodSynonyms: famishmentType of hunger, hungriness
- the act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine“the besiegers used starvation to induce surrender”“they were charged with the starvation of children in their care”Synonyms: starvingType of privation, deprivation
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inexorableadjective
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Star·va′tion (stär-vā′shŭn), noun
The act of starving, or the state of being starved.
☞ This word was first used, according to Horace Walpole, by Henry Dundas, the first Lord Melville, in a speech on American affairs in 1775, which obtained for him the nickname of Starvation Dundas. “Starvation, we are also told, belongs to the class of 'vile compounds' from being a mongrel; as if English were not full of mongrels, and as if it would not be in distressing straits without them.” Fitzedward Hall
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54