starve

Meanings

Verb

be hungry; go without food
die of food deprivation
- "The political prisoners starved to death"
deprive of food
- "They starved the prisoners"
have a craving, appetite, or great desire for
deprive of a necessity and cause suffering
- "The engine was starved of fuel"
To die because of lack of food or of not eating.
To suffer severely because of lack of food or of not eating.
To be very hungry.
To kill or attempt to kill by depriving of food.
To make suffer severely by depriving of food.
To force a combatant to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in a targeted siege.
To force a population center to submit or surrender by depriving of food, as in sieges in international armed conflicts.
To deprive of nourishment or of some vital component.
To deteriorate for want of any essential thing.
To kill with cold; to (cause to) die from cold.
To die; in later use especially to die slowly, waste away.

Origin / Etymology

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”).

Synonyms

crave, famish, hunger, lust, thirst

Antonyms

be full, feed

Scrabble Score: 9

starve is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
starve is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
starve is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

starve is a valid Words With Friends word