famine
noun
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Definition of famine
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Synonyms & Antonyms for famine
Synonyms
crunch, dearth, deficiency, deficit, drought (also drouth), failure, inadequacy, inadequateness, insufficiency, lack, lacuna, paucity, pinch, poverty, scantiness, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want
Antonyms
abundance, adequacy, amplitude, opulence, plenitude, plenty, sufficiency, wealth
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Examples of famine in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The four-and-a-half-year-old war has killed tens of thousands people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. — NBC News, "U.S. military drone shot down over Yemen, officials say," 21 Aug. 2019 It's been a feast-or-famine sort of atmosphere this season in Alaska. — Matthew Cappucci, Anchorage Daily News, "An atmospheric river is drenching parts of Alaska after a stretch of scorching weather," 6 Aug. 2019 In terms of tangibles, the guy who departed hitting .241 in 83 at-bats figures to have minimal impact on a feast-or-famine offense that struggles to manufacture runs. — David Haugh, chicagotribune.com, "Column: Ben Zobrist’s return is a nice storyline — but he’s not going to rescue the Cubs," 30 July 2019 Feast or famine, and this will be just his second-ever major and first since 2014. — Daniel Rapaport, SI.com, "Ranking the Top 100 Players at the 2019 British Open," 16 July 2019 The Summer Exhibition has happened every year since 1769, peace or war, feast or famine. — Brian T. Allen, National Review, "The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition Takes a Traditional Turn," 13 July 2019 Dormancy also gave microbes a way to survive the feast-or-famine waves of food and other essentials, as well as the limitations of extreme environments. — Carrie Arnold, WIRED, "A Blazing Hot Coal Seam Shows How Microbes Can Spring to Life," 21 Apr. 2019 Bastille Day marks a key moment in the French Revolution, when high taxes and a summer of famine in 1789 led French citizens to storm the Bastille, a military fortress and prison. — Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, "A man on a flying board soars above Bastille Day crowds in Paris," 14 July 2019 Francisco Rodríguez, an economist in New York who has advised the moderate opposition, warns of famine. — The Economist, "With tenacity and torture, Venezuela’s awful regime is hanging on," 11 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'famine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for famine
famine
noun
English Language Learners Definition of famine
See the full definition for famine in the English Language Learners Dictionary
famine
noun
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Kids Definition of famine
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