starving

adjdeprived

Synonyms for starving

adj deprived

Antonyms for starving

Word Origin & History

Old English steorfan "to die" (past tense stearf, past participle storfen), from Proto-Germanic *sterban "be stiff" (cf. Old Frisian sterva, Dutch sterven, Old High German sterban "to die," Old Norse stjarfi "tetanus"), from PIE root *ster- "stiff, rigid" (cf. Greek sterphnios "stiff, rigid," sterphos "hide, skin," Old Church Slavonic strublu "strong, hard;" see stare).

The conjugation became weak in English by 16c. The sense narrowed to "die of cold" (14c.); meaning "to kill with hunger" is first recorded 1520s (earlier to starve of hunger, early 12c.). Intransitive sense of "to die of hunger" dates from 1570s. German cognate sterben retains the original sense of the word, but the English has come so far from its origins that starve to death (1910) is now common.

Example Sentences for starving

Since the whip has not conquered you, we will try what starving will do.

With the best intentions in the world you may have to use coercion to keep from starving.

I arose from my chair and examined the sketch of the starving mountaineer.

And all the time the starving of "the hungry sheep" goes on.

They saw their own countrymen who had been fighting for them, starving, and they let them starve!

They think of Ireland first, and he thinks of starving workmen first.

For all we can tell there may be a dozen other starving women.

I can't say I care for going it blind, but neither do I like starving to death.

By the month of February they were again destitute and starving.

"Starving will kill as dead as hanging," was Lieders's orphic response to this.

starving

Synonyms for starving

Antonyms for starving

gluttonous

ravenous

unappeasable

underfed

voracious

starving

Synonyms for starving

Antonyms for starving

More words related to starving

empty

gluttonous

ravenous

unappeasable

underfed

voracious