Meanings
present singular third person starves · participle present starving · past starved · participle past starved · obsolete participle past starven · first person past singular starved · archaic present second person singular starvest · past second person singular starved · archaic past second person singular starvedst · present singular third person starves · archaic present singular third person starveth · past singular third person starved · past plural starved · past subjunctive starved · participle present starving · participle past starved
- intransitiveoftenTo die because of lack of food or of not eating.
"When all of you starve to death, Shasta, don't come crying to me, that's all."
2007, Lisa Wingate, A Thousand Voices, page 761 more example
During the Cultural Revolution I was exiled to Xincai County in Henan Province. There, 36 percent of the people starved to death in the early 1960s.
1990, Chen Yizi (陳一諮), quotee, Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tiananmen Square, →ISBN, page 48 - intransitiveTo suffer severely because of lack of food or of not eating.
I was starving, so I wrote S.O.S. on the desert island using rocks.
2 more examples
Ah (ſaid the Ape as ſighing vvondrous ſad) / Its an hard caſe, vvhen men of good deſeruing / Muſt either driuen be perforce to ſteruing, / Or asked for their pas by euerie ſquib: […]
1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC..., and the little half-starved, stunted girl of twelve, with her brown arms and steady, unerring aim, will hammer out half a bundle, IS. 6½d.
1884, Jacob Schoenhof, The Destructive Influence of the Tariff Upon Manufacture and Commerce and the Figures and Facts Relating Thereto, page 62 - transitiveTo kill or attempt to kill by depriving of food.
- transitiveTo force a combatant to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in a targeted siege.
If they refuse to surrender the garrison, we'll just starve them out.
- datedtransitiveTo force a population center to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in sieges in international armed conflicts.
- transitiveTo deprive of nourishment or of some vital component.
The patient’s brain was starved of oxygen.
3 more examples
The uncaring parents starved the child of love.
Mildly it [the wind] kiſt our ſailes, and, freſh, and ſvveet, / As, to a ſtomack ſterv'd, vvhoſe inſides meete, / Meate comes, it came; and ſvvole our ſailes, vvhen vvee / So joyd, as Sara' her ſvvelling joy'd to ſee.
a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Storme. To Mr. Christopher Brooke.”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 57Let them not ſtill be obſtinately blind, / Still to divert the Good thou haſt deſign'd, / Or vvith Malignant penury, / To ſterve the Royal Vertues of his Mind.
1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis: A Funeral-Pindarique Poem Sacred to the Happy Memory of King Charles II, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 24 - intransitiveTo deteriorate for want of any essential thing.
- UKtransitiveespecially Yorkshire and LancashireTo kill with cold; to (cause to) die from cold.
I was half starved waiting out in that wind.
3 more examples
Wheniver he wor starved, he used to get th' seck o' coils ov his back, an' walk raand th' haase till he gat warm agean.
1869 February, John Hartley, The original illuminated clock almanackOne i' th' morning an' me starv'd to th' death wi' waitin' up.
1886, A Queer Supper, John Heywood, section 8Sometimes he remarks, “ ’Tis these dreadful frostis that spiles everything. ’Tis enough to sterve anybody.”
1898, J. Arthur Gibbs, “When the May-Fly is Up”, in A Cotswold village; or, Country Life & Pursuits in Gloucestershire, London: John Murray, →OCLC, page 164 - intransitiveobsoleteTo die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.
Seuen moneths he ſo her kept in bitter ſmart, / Becauſe his ſinfull luſt ſhe would not ſerue, / Vntill ſuch time as noble Britomart / Releaſed her, that elſe was like to ſterue / Through cruell knife that her deare heart did kerue.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 6
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make suffer severely by depriving of food.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*sterbʰ-“to become stiff”
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)terp-“to lose strength, become numb, be motionless”
- Proto-Germanic*sterbaną“to become stiff, die”
- Proto-West Germanic*sterban
- Old Englishsteorfan“to die, perish”
- Middle Englishsterven“to die, perish”
- Englishstarve
From Middle English sterven (“to die, perish”), from Old English steorfan (“to die, perish”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterban, from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną (“to become stiff, die”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terp- (“to lose strength, become numb, be motionless”); or from Proto-Indo-European *sterbʰ- (“to become stiff”), from *ster- (“stiff”); or a conflation of the aforementioned. Cognate with Scots stairve, sterve (“to die, perish, starve”), Saterland Frisian stjerwa (“to die”), West Frisian stjerre (“to die”), Dutch sterven (“to die”), German Low German starven (“to die”), German sterben (“to die”), Icelandic stirfinn (“peevish, froward”), Albanian shterp (“sterile, unproductive, barren land”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَضَوَّرَ, مَاتَ جَوْعًا
- تَضَوَّرَ (taḍawwara)to be very hungry
- مَاتَ جَوْعًا (māta jawʕan)to die because of lack of food
Bulgarian умирам от глад, гладувам
- умирам от глад (umiram ot glad)to be very hungry
- гладувам (gladuvam)to die because of lack of food
Catalan morir de gana
- morir de ganato die because of lack of food
Chinese Mandarin 饿死, 餓死 /饿死
- 饿死 (èsǐ)to be very hungry
- 餓死 /饿死 (èsǐ)to die because of lack of food
Czech hladovět
- hladovětto die because of lack of food
Dutch rammelen, sterven van de honger
- rammelento be very hungry
- sterven van de hongerto be very hungry
- uithongerento deprive of nourishment
- verhongerento die because of lack of food
- sterven van de hongerto die because of lack of food
Esperanto malsati
- malsatito deprive of nourishment
Finnish kuolla nälkään, näännyttää
- kuolla nälkäänto be very hungry
- näännyttääto destroy by deprivation
- nälkiinnyttääto destroy by deprivation
- näännyttääto deprive of nourishment
- nääntyäobsolete: to die — see also die
- nääntyä (nälkään)to die because of lack of food
- nääntyäto die because of lack of food
- kuolla nälkäänto die because of lack of food
French mourir de faim, crever de faim
- mourir de faimto be very hungry
- crever de faimto be very hungry
- crever la dalleto be very hungry
- avoir l'estomac dans les talonsto be very hungry
- affamerto deprive of nourishment
- mourir de faimto die because of lack of food
German verhungern, verhungern lassen
- verhungernto be very hungry
- verhungern lassento deprive of nourishment
- aushungernto deprive of nourishment
- verhungernto die because of lack of food
- Hungers sterbento die because of lack of food
Greek πεθαίνω της πείνας, ψοφάω της πείνας
- πεθαίνω της πείνας (pethaíno tis peínas)to be very hungry
- ψοφάω της πείνας (psofáo tis peínas)to be very hungry
- λιμοκτονώ (limoktonó)to die because of lack of food
Hebrew גָּוַע
- גָּוַע (gavá')to die because of lack of food
Hungarian éhezik, éheztet
- éhezikto be very hungry
- éheztetto deprive of nourishment
- éhenhalto die because of lack of food
Indonesian kelaparan, mati kelaparan
- kelaparanto be very hungry
- mati kelaparanto die because of lack of food
Italian affamare, morire di fame
- affamareto deprive of nourishment
- morire di fameto die because of lack of food
Japanese 飢える, 飢えさせる
- 飢える (ueru)to be very hungry
- 飢えさせる (uesaseru)to deprive of nourishment
- 餓死する (gashi suru)to die because of lack of food
- 飢える (ueru)to die because of lack of food
Korean 굶어죽다
- 굶어죽다 (gulmeojukda)to die because of lack of food
Māori whakatiki, whakapuango
- whakatikito deprive of nourishment
- whakapuangoto deprive of nourishment
Polish głodzić, głodować
- głodzićto deprive of nourishment
- głodowaćto die because of lack of food
Portuguese estar morrendo de fome, estar faminto
- estar morrendo de fometo be very hungry
- estar famintoto be very hungry
- estar louco de fometo be very hungry
- esfomearto deprive of nourishment
- morrer de fometo die because of lack of food
Romanian muri de foame, înfometa
- muri de foameto be very hungry
- înfometato deprive of nourishment
- flămânzito die because of lack of food
- suferi de foameto die because of lack of food
- muri de foameto die because of lack of food
Russian проголода́ться, изголода́ться
- проголода́ться (progolodátʹsja)to be very hungry
- изголода́ться (izgolodátʹsja)to be very hungry
- умира́ть от го́лода (umirátʹ ot góloda)to be very hungry
- голода́ть (golodátʹ)to be very hungry
- мори́ть го́лодом (morítʹ gólodom)to deprive of nourishment
- ча́хнуть (čáxnutʹ)obsolete: to die — see also die
- голода́ть (golodátʹ)to die because of lack of food
- умира́ть от го́лода (umirátʹ ot góloda)to die because of lack of food
- умира́ть с го́лоду (umirátʹ s gólodu)to die because of lack of food
- умира́ть с го́лода (umirátʹ s góloda)to die because of lack of food
Slovak hladovať
- hladovaťto die because of lack of food
Spanish morir de hambre, hambrear
- morir de hambreto be very hungry
- hambrearto be very hungry
- hambrearto deprive of nourishment
- morir de hambreto die because of lack of food
Swedish svälta, vara svulten
- svältato be very hungry
- vara svultento be very hungry
- vara utsvultento be very hungry
- svälta (ut)to destroy by deprivation
- svälta (ut)to deprive of nourishment
- svältato die because of lack of food
Tagalog magutom, gutumin
- magutomto be very hungry
- gutuminto die because of lack of food
Turkish açlıktan ölmek, aç bırakmak
- açlıktan ölmekto be very hungry
- aç bırakmakto deprive of nourishment
- açlıktan ölmekto die because of lack of food
Ukrainian голодува́ти
- голодува́ти (holoduváty)to die because of lack of food
Vietnamese đói ngấu, đói meo
- đói ngấuto be very hungry
- đói meoto be very hungry
- chết đóito die because of lack of food
Welsh llwgu
- llwguto be very hungry
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with starve
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
starve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/starve
“starve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/starve. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “starve,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/starve.
Source: starve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.