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famine
[ fam-in ]
noun
- extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area.
- any extreme and general scarcity.
Synonyms: scantness, meagerness, poverty, paucity, dearth
- extreme hunger; starvation.
famine
/ ˈfæmɪn /
noun
- a severe shortage of food, as through crop failure or overpopulation
- acute shortage of anything
- violent hunger
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of famine1
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Idioms and Phrases
see feast or famine .Discover More
Example Sentences
She recalls that during the famine her father illegally sold gold and silver.
“These people were coming here from tragic situations of war and famine in search of a better life,” he told The Daily Beast.
Famine and frigid temperatures ensued, and roughly 10 percent of the population died.
At other times, North Korea might want aid economic and food concessions, especially during periods of hardship and famine.
Besides, the price tag for that motivation—famine, disease, Harold Campings everywhere—is surely too steep.
In 1205 wheat was worth 12 pence per bushel, which was cheap, as there had been some years of famine previous thereto.
Only in the sensational moments of famine, flood or pestilence was a general social effort called forth.
Fordun says there was famine in Scotland this year, many being reduced 'to feed on the flesh of horses and other unclean cattle.'
But numbers overpowered them, and being weakened by famine, their city was forced, and the inmates seized as slaves.
Bruce presently came up with large reinforcements, but the castle held out tenaciously, and surrendered only to famine.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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