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starvation

noun

Simple meaning

A condition of severe suffering due to a lack of nutrition.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

stahrvayshuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

stɑɹˈveɪʃən

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A condition of severe suffering due to a lack of nutrition.

  2. figurative

    Severe shortage of resources.

  3. computer science

    A state where a process is perpetually denied necessary resources to process its work.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A condition of severe suffering due to a lack of nutrition.

Used this way, starvation is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Strong
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Strongly negative / painful
Usage feel
Everyday but emotionally strong

Where it naturally appears

  • Personal/emotional discussion
  • Literature/storytelling

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use starvation

  • “The besiegers used starvation to induce surrender.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

mass starvationstarvation wagesactual starvationslow starvationstarvation dietavoid starvationstarvation level

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • starvation acidosisnounCompound term

    Acidosis in which the acidity results from lack of food which leads to fat catabolism which in turn releases acidic ketone bodies.

  • the great starvationnounCompound term

    A famine in Ireland resulting from a potato blight.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.