starve When a person or an animal dies from a lack of food, we say that person or animal "starved" to death. Starvation is a serious issue in countries all around the world, especially for children: - A little boy starved to death because of a widespread famine. (This sentence uses "starve" as a verb.)
- There are starving people in the Horn of Africa. (This sentence uses "starving" as an adjective.)
- The cattle died of starvation because they couldn’t find enough (grass) to eat. (The word "starvation" is a noun.)
Sometimes the word "starve" is used when a person is really hungry but not on the verge of death: - The kids say they’re starving.
- Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.
- Bob says he’s going to starve to death if he doesn’t get something to eat soon.
There are a few other ways to use this word: - The cat is starving for attention. (The cat wants people to pet her.)
- Charles is on a starvation diet. (He’s not eating very much in order to lose weight.)
- After years of work as a starving artist, Rachel is now quite successful in selling her paintings. (A starting artist is a person who works as an artist but makes very little money.)
| Vocabulary |
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famine: a situation in which food is not available and people die as a result. Famines usually affect large geographical areas. on the verge: this is an idiom that means something is about to happen. It’s similar to the word "almost." |
Click here to go to the Word of the Day page. This page was first published on April 21, 2012. It was updated on February 28, 2015. |