Definitions for famine
ˈfæm ɪnfamine

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. dearth, famine, shortagenoun

   an acute insufficiency

2. faminenoun

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

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. faminenoun

   extreme shortage of food in a region

2. faminenoun

   a period of extreme shortage of food in a region

3. faminenoun

   During times of famine

4. Etymology: From famine.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Faminenoun

   Scarcity of food; dearth; distress for want of victuals.

   Etymology: famine, French; fames, Latin.

   Our castle’s strength
   Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie,
   ’Till famine and the ague eat them up. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   Famines have not been of late observed, partly because of the industry of mankind, partly by those supplies that come by sea to countries in want, but principally by the goodness of God. Matthew Hale, Origin of Mankind.

   This city never felt a siege before,
   But from the lake receiv’d its daily store;
   Which now shut up, and millions crowded here,
   Famine will soon in multitudes appear. John Dryden, Indian Emp.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Famine

   A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. In the 19th and 20th century, generally characterized Southeast and South Asia, as well as Eastern and Central Europe, in terms of having suffered most number of deaths from famine. The numbers dying from famine began to fall sharply from the 2000s. Since 2010, Africa has been the most affected continent of famine in the world.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. famine

   Famine is a severe and prolonged shortage of food in a particular region or country, typically resulting in widespread hunger, malnutrition, and death. It often occurs due to factors such as war, drought, economic collapse, or crop failure.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Faminenoun

   general scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution

2. Etymology: [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. want, need, Skr. hni loss, lack, h to leave.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Famine

   A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, population unbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Nearly every continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. Some countries, particularly in sub-Sahara Africa, continue to have extreme cases of famine. The famine relief model increasingly used by aid groups calls for giving cash or cash vouchers to the hungry to pay local farmers instead of buying food from donor countries, as is often required by law, as it wastes money on transport costs, but more importantly, it perpetuates the cycle of dependency on foreign imports rather than helping to create real local stability through agricultural abundance. Emergency measures in relieving famine include providing high calorie ready-to-use therapeutic food, through fortified sachets of peanut-based paste such as Plumpy'nut that are given primarily to children. Long-term measures include investment in modern agriculture techniques, such as fertilizers and irrigation, which largely eradicated hunger in the developed world. World Bank strictures restrict government subsidies for farmers, and increasing use of fertilizers is opposed by some environmental groups because of its unintended consequences: adverse effects on water supplies and habitat.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Famine

   fam′in, n. general scarcity of food: extreme scarcity of anything, as in 'famine prices,' &c.: hunger: starvation. [Fr., through an unrecorded Low L. famina, from L. fames, hunger.]

Matched Categories

1. • Calamity
   • Lack

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for famine »

1. infame

How to pronounce famine?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say famine in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of famine in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of famine in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of famine in a Sentence

1. Woody Allen, Without Feathers:

   Whosoever shall not fall by the sword or by famine, shall fall by pestilence so why bother shaving?

2. Barron Segar:

   Pre-COVID years, we talked about famine, but it was relatively rare, today, we have this domino effect of climate and COVID and cost and conflict, and they're all beating up on each other.

3. John Sifton:

   The Taliban represent an abusive authority, a brutal regime that has killed people and repressed and plans to subjugate the human rights of millions of people in coming years, but none of that will matter to those people if they're dead because of famine.

4. Jamie McGoldrick:

   What will happen is that this cholera outbreak will in fact exacerbate the conditions and the threat of famine in more places than ever in the country.

5. Patricia Arquette:

   I can't tell you what this means to me, i'm a fourth-generation actor. My family has been committed to acting for over a century, through feast or famine.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=famine
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Famine
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=famine
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/famine
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=famine
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=famine
9. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=famine