starveverb
uk/stɑːv/us/stɑːrv/C1 [ I or T ] to (cause someone to) become very weak or die because there is not enough food to eat:
Whole communities starved to death during the long drought.
From talking to former prisoners in the camps, an obvious conclusion is that they have been starved.
[ T often passive ] If you are starved of something necessary or good, you do not receive enough of it:
People starved of sleep start to lose their concentration and may hallucinate.
More examples
- We can't stand by while millions of people starve.
- When the aid stopped, thousands of people simply starved to death.
- We can't leave these people to starve.
- I don't mind her going on a sensible diet just as long as she doesn't starve herself.
- She had to starve for 24 hours before the treatment.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Diets & dieting
- anorexia nervosa
- balanced diet
- caloric
- calorie-controlled
- calorific
- comfort eating
- complex carbohydrate
- crash diet
- deficiency disease
- dietetics
- empty calories
- intake
- low-calorie
- macrobiotic
- malnourished
- nutraceutical
- nutritious
- slimmer
- sugar-free
- vegetarian
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Death and dying
Lacking things
Scarce, inadequate and not enough