starve
verb /stɑːv/
/stɑːrv/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they starve | /stɑːv/ /stɑːrv/ |
| he / she / it starves | /stɑːvz/ /stɑːrvz/ |
| past simple starved | /stɑːvd/ /stɑːrvd/ |
| past participle starved | /stɑːvd/ /stɑːrvd/ |
| -ing form starving | /ˈstɑːvɪŋ/ /ˈstɑːrvɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] to suffer or die because you do not have enough food to eat; to make somebody suffer or die in this way
- The animals were left to starve to death.
- pictures of starving children
- The new job doesn't pay as much but we won't starve!
- starve somebody/yourself She's starving herself to try to lose weight.
- Many of the prisoners looked half starved.
Extra ExamplesTopics Social issuesb2- He locked them in a room and left them to starve.
- She refused food and literally starved herself to death.
- The poor cat was half starved.
- Their policies will leave innocent children starving in the streets.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- slowly
- literally
- leave somebody to
- for
- of
- be half starved
- keep somebody from starving
- starve in the streets
- …
- -starved(in adjectives) not having something that you need
- supply-starved rebels
Word OriginOld English steorfan ‘to die’, of Germanic origin, probably from a base meaning ‘be rigid’ (compare with stare); related to Dutch sterven and German sterben.
Idioms
be starving (for something)
(also be starved especially in North American English)
- (informal) to feel very hungry
- When's the food coming? I'm starving!