famines

Noun

famine (countable and uncountable, plural famines)

1. (uncountable) 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...1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38
2. (countable) A period of extreme shortage of food in a region.
   • The root causes of the current famine are known: poverty, low health standards....1986, United States Congress, House Select Committee on Hunger, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Famine and Recovery in Africa
3. (dated) Starvation or malnutrition.
   • His own flesh, however, which he lost by famine, shall be restored to him by Him who can recover even what has evaporated.1871 (orig. 426), Augustine, The City of God, transl. Marcus Dods
4. Severe shortage or lack of something.
   • the Lancashire Cotton Famine

See all 5 meanings of famine