famine

C1 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈfæmɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #12151

Meanings

1

noun
a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death

The long drought brought famine to the province.
2

noun
an acute insufficiency

The long drought brought famine to the province.
3

noun
Extreme shortage of food in a region.

It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.
4

noun
A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.

1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · an acute insufficiency shortage

Opposites

abundance plenty

Word family

Derived forms antifaminefamineefaminelikepostfamineprefamine

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French famine, itself from the root of Latin fames. Cognate with Spanish hambruna (“famine”).

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# famine

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈfæmɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 12151

## Meanings
1. a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death
2. an acute insufficiency
3. Extreme shortage of food in a region.
4. A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.

## Examples
- The long drought brought famine to the province.
- The long drought brought famine to the province.
- It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.
- 1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....

## Synonyms
- shortage

## Antonyms
- abundance
- plenty

## Derived Forms
- antifamine
- faminee
- faminelike
- postfamine
- prefamine

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French famine, itself from the root of Latin fames. Cognate with Spanish hambruna (“famine”).

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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