Meaning & use
starvation
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Extreme suffering or death caused by going without food for a long time.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'starvation', not 'a starvation'; use 'die of starvation' without 'the'.
Patterns
- die of starvation
- face starvation
- on the brink of starvation
Thousands of people died of starvation during the long drought.
Aid workers warned that the region was close to mass starvation.
The animals were rescued just before starvation set in.
nounbefore a nounfigurative
Used before another noun to describe something that is extremely small or severe, as if it were barely enough to live on.
Grammar: Always comes directly before a noun: starvation wages, a starvation diet.
Patterns
- starvation wages
- a starvation diet
- starvation rations
Workers there are paid starvation wages and can barely afford rent.
She followed a starvation diet and soon felt exhausted.
The prisoners were kept on starvation rations for months.
Common combinations
- die of starvation
- Many refugees died of starvation before help arrived.
- mass starvation
- The war led to mass starvation across the country.
- starvation diet
- A starvation diet is dangerous and rarely works long-term.
- starvation wages
- He quit because the factory paid starvation wages.
- on the verge of starvation
- The village was on the verge of starvation after the floods.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hunger
- The ordinary feeling of needing food; 'starvation' is far more serious and means people are dying or suffering severely.
- famine
- A widespread shortage of food affecting a whole area; 'starvation' describes the suffering of individuals, which a famine can cause.
- malnutrition
- A medical condition from not getting enough of the right nutrients; it can exist without the extreme, life-threatening state of starvation.
Opposites
Word family
- starve verb
- To suffer or die because of a lack of food, or to stop someone from getting food.
- starved adjective
- Extremely hungry or having had no food, as in 'I'm starved'.
- starving adjective
- Very hungry in everyday speech; also describes people or animals actually dying of hunger.
Commonly confused: starvation or dehydration? starvation or hunger?
starvation vs dehydration
Dehydration is caused by a lack of water, while starvation is caused by a lack of food.
starvation vs hunger
Hunger can simply mean the feeling of wanting food; starvation means extreme, often fatal, lack of food.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'starvation' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Starvation' is uncountable and is used with 'die of' to describe death from lack of food. Option 1 uses the wrong preposition, option 3 uses it for ordinary hunger, and option 4 wrongly makes it a countable plural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “starvation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.