faminefam‧ine /ˈfæmɪn/ ●○○ noun [countable, uncountable] 
the great potato famine in Irelandsevere/widespread famine Widespread famine had triggered a number of violent protests. A million people are facing famine.
WORD ORIGINfamine
Origin:
1300-1400 French, Latin fames ‘hungry condition’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Millions of people in Africa continue to die because of war and famine.
- The four-year drought has caused widespread famine across Afghanistan.
- Also invoked against famine and plagues.
- In this way famine can be prevented now and in the future.
- Paradoxically, it was the grain-surplus areas which were most at risk of severe deprivation and periodic famine.
- Similarly, it is indefensible to be inactive in the face of third world poverty and famine.
- Since the seed for this year's crops has been eaten, the risk of a prolonged famine is increasing.
THESAURUSnatural disasters
a sudden shaking of the Earth’s surface that often causes a lot of damage: · A powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.· It was the biggest earthquake to hit the Pacific Northwest for 52 years.
a very large amount of water that covers an area that is usually dry: · Bangladesh has been hit by a series of devastating floods (=very bad floods).· The crisis began with floods that covered one third of the countryside.
a long period of dry weather when there is not enough water for plants and animals to live: · The country experienced its worst drought this century.· In East Africa, three years of drought have left 10 million people in urgent need of food and water.
a situation in which a large number of people have little or no food for a long time and many people die: · Poor harvests led to famine.· 4,000,000 people are threatened by famine in northern Ethiopia.
a storm that has very strong fast winds and that moves over water – used about storms in the North Atlantic Ocean: · extreme weather such as hurricanes· Hurricane Andrew left southern Florida in ruins.
a violent tropical storm – used about storms in the Western Pacific Ocean: · A typhoon has hit the Philippines, lifting roofs off houses and uprooting trees.·
a very large wave, caused by extreme conditions such as an earthquake, which can cause a lot of damage when it reaches land: · Thousands of people were killed in the tsunami.· Many Pacific earthquakes have generated tsunamis.
Longman Language Activatorwhen people are ill or dying because of not having enough food · Many people could die from cold and hunger this winter as the war continues.· The slum-dwellers suffer from poverty, hunger, and disease.weak with/from hunger · Weak with hunger, she staggered up to the cabin door.
suffering or death caused by not having enough food to eat: · The survivors were close to starvation when they were rescued.· A global fall in the price of rice spread hardship and even starvation to many parts of Indochina.die of starvation: · 30 million people die of starvation each year.brink of starvation (=almost dying because of not having enough food): · Thousands of refugees are on the brink of starvation in camps south of the capital.
bad health caused by not eating enough food or by not eating enough of the right kinds of food: · Many of the children showed signs of malnutrition.· A survey of US households found evidence of malnutrition in those persons with the lowest incomes.
a situation in which a large number of people in a country or area are very hungry and many die because the crops of rice, wheat etc have failed: · Millions of people in Africa continue to die because of war and famine.· The four-year drought has caused widespread famine across Afghanistan.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Widespread famine had triggered a number of violent protests. A million people are facing famine.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a situation in which a large number of people have little or no food for a long time and many people die: Widespread famine had triggered a number of violent protests. A million people are facing famine.· We donated $1,000 to the American Red Cross for flood relief.
(=someone who has had no food to eat for a long time)· Aid is being shipped to famine victims.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· In 1922 they were the hub of the maelstrom that was the great famine of 1921-2.· Like Concerned Women, it also grew out of the great famine of 1974.
· However, when Karamoja experienced severe famine in 1979 and 1980, aid organizations streamed in to provide relief food.
· It could mean permanent coastal flooding in some countries and widespread famine in others.
NOUN· The potato famine, so many millions of people were affected by it and all the deaths that have occurred.· Their families had come to the United States during the nineteenth-century potato famine.
· A special series of graded poll-taxes towards famine relief began in February 1922.· Then there was the famine relief work, the Ethiopean situation, the Kurdish situation.· Even the famine area was made to pay one-half of the supplemental tax levied for famine relief.· Join a pressure group or raise money for famine relief.· The national union of workers in education and the arts gave 5 percent of their pay for famine relief.
· It hopes to mount 15 flights a day - carrying enough food to feed 500,000 of the most desperate famine victims.
VERB· United Nations experts say as many as four million people are facing famine after a severe drought and crop failure.· Those who were spared death by disease faced death by famine.
the great potato famine in Irelandsevere/widespread famine Widespread famine had triggered a number of violent protests. A million people are facing famine.