famishment
UK/ˈfæmɪʃmənt/
famishment noun: the state or process of being famished.
Noun
famishment (countable and uncountable, plural famishments)
- The state or process of being famished.
- Sith you will not attend true Wisedoms Words,
Laugh and bee fatt, sith al you touch is Gold,
Though that foode your Soules famishment affordes.c. 1605, John Davies, “I said unto Laughter, what art thou mad?”, in Wittes Pilgrimage - […] among the French planters, the slaves are in a condition of almost utter famishment during the great portion of the year.1838, Authentic Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave, Boston: Isaac Knapp, Appendix, page 106
- Synonyms:
- hunger, inanition, malnourishment, starvation
- Sith you will not attend true Wisedoms Words,
- Famine.
- And there ſhalbe erthquakes / in all quarters / and famyſſhment / and troubles.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark xiij:[8], folio lxiiij, verso
Examples of famishment in a sentence
- As the young Cuban tasted his flesh, his tropical appetite long depressed by the North American dryness suddenly revived, and brought to his mind the thought of his long famishment.1957, James Purdy, “The Pupil”, in The Complete Short Stories of James Purdy, New York: Liveright, published 2013, page 682:
- He churned the emptiness of my stomach, and stirred the fury of my famishment.1991, Ben Okri, The Famished Road, New York: Nan A. Talese, published 1992, Section 1, Book 5, Chapter 2, p. 329:
Synonyms of famishment
Forms of famishment
| plural | famishments |
|---|
Origin of famishment
From famish + -ment.
Questions about famishment
- What does famishment mean?
- Famishment means the state or process of being famished.
- How do you use famishment in a sentence?
- As the young Cuban tasted his flesh, his tropical appetite long depressed by the North American dryness suddenly revived, and brought to his mind the thought of his long famishment.
- What part of speech is famishment?
- Famishment is a noun.
- How do you pronounce famishment?
- Famishment is pronounced /ˈfæmɪʃmənt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of famishment?
- The plural of famishment is famishments.
Words near famishment in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: famishment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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