starvation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a state of extreme hunger resulting from lack of essential nutrients over a prolonged period
    famishment.
  2. noun the act of depriving of food or subjecting to famine
    starving.
    • the besiegers used starvation to induce surrender
    • they were charged with the starvation of children in their care

WordNet

Star*va"tion noun
Definitions
  1. The act of starving, or the state of being starved. ✍ This word was first used, according to Horace Walpole, by Henry Dundas, the first Lord Melville, in a speech on American affairs in 1775, which obtained for him the nickname of Starvation Dundas. "Starvation, we are also told, belongs to the class of 'vile compounds' from being a mongrel; as if English were not full of mongrels, and if it would not be in distressing straits without them." Fitzed. Hall.

Webster 1913