starvation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine

   the besiegers used starvation to induce surrender

2. 2
   noun

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

   "We haven't one chance for life in a hundred thousand if we don't find food and water upon Caprona. This water coming out of the cliff is not salt; but neither is it fit to drink, though each of us has drunk. It is fair to assume that inland the river is fed by pure streams, that there are fruits and herbs and game. Shall we lie out here and die of thirst and starvation with a land of plenty possibly only a few hundred yards away? We have the means for navigating a subterranean river. Are we too cowardly to utilize this means?"

3. 3
   noun

   Severe shortage of resources.

   Fuel starvation has several causes.

4. 4
   noun

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

   Whenever multiple threads compete for a scarce resource, there is the danger of starvation, a situation in which the thread never gets the resource.

5. 5
   noun

   a state of extreme hunger resulting from lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged period

Etymology

From starve + -ation.