Famine (Noun)
Meaning 1
An acute insufficiency.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural processes.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Meaning 2
A severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death.
Classification
Nouns denoting natural events.
Examples
- The devastating famine left millions of people without access to nutritious food, leading to widespread malnutrition and death.
- The combination of drought and conflict triggered a severe famine in the region, forcing families to resort to eating leaves and berries to survive.
- Historians estimate that the famine, caused by a series of crop failures, was responsible for the deaths of over a quarter of the population.
- The international community responded to the famine by airlifting in emergency food supplies, but many areas remained inaccessible due to fighting.
- As the famine worsened, desperate people began eating their family pets, and even the seeds set aside for the next planting season, in an attempt to stay alive.