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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of hungry in English

hungry
adjective
uk
/ˈhʌŋ.ɡri/ us
/ˈhʌŋ.ɡri/

hungry adjective (NEEDING FOOD)

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A1
wanting or needing food:
By four o'clock I was really hungry.
feel hungry I was beginning to feel very hungry.
The children are always hungry when they get home from school.
There are too many hungry people (= people without enough to eat) in the world.
go hungry She often goes hungry herself (= does not eat) so that her children can have enough to eat.
hungry work Digging the garden is hungry work (= makes you feel hunger).
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
wanting or needing food
  • hungryBy dinner time we all felt really hungry.
  • starvingIs there anything to eat? I'm starving!
  • starvedUS He ate so quickly, like he was starved.
  • famishedAfter that long workout, I'm absolutely famished.
  • ravenousHe's going through a growth spurt, so he's just ravenous.
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More examplesFewer examples
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Hungry & thirsty
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hungry adjective (WANTING)

C2
having a strong wish or desire for something:
hungry for She was so hungry for success that she'd do anything to achieve it.
Journalists were hungry for details.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Wanting things
See more results »

Related word

hungrily
-hungry
suffix
uk
/ -hʌŋ.ɡri/ us
/ -hʌŋ.ɡri/
having a strong wish or desire for the stated thing:
power-hungry politicians
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Wanting things
See more results »
(Definition of hungry from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

hungry | American Dictionary

hungry
adjective
us
/ˈhʌŋ·ɡri/

hungry adjective (NEEDING FOOD)

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feeling the need to eat because there has been a period of time when you have not eaten:
The children are always hungry when they get home from school.
They were poor and often went to bed hungry (= did not get enough to eat at night).

hungry adjective (EAGER)

having a strong desire; eager:
Kim is so hungry for success that she’ll do anything to achieve it.
(Definition of hungry from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

hungry | Business English

hungry
adjective
uk
/ˈhʌŋɡri/ us
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having a great need or wish for something:
hungry for sth Analysts said investors were hungry for any information that could point the market in a direction.
We need to attract fresh talent and show the world that we are hungry for success.
-hungry
suffix
having a great need or wish for the stated thing:
capital-/cash-/money-hungry
energy-/power-hungry The energy-hungry transportation sector was weak .
Many of its investors had been expecting the acquisition-hungry bank to move overseas for its next big deal.
(Definition of hungry from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of hungry

hungry
His book is crammed with evidence and arguments that, even as prosperity has grown, so the army of the hungry has remained.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
I was definitely the hungriest and took any story that came my way.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
They eat subtraction stew, which makes the diner hungrier.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Under such conditions the baits o could have been more attractive for hungry soil animals there.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They were desperately hungry, he wrote, being allowed less food than other prisoners in the same gaol.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The saws used in double tend to be a lot hungrier, that is, they cut and draw more wood out with each stroke.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
The lion is hungry and is looking for something to eat.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Instead, they invest slightly more in the least nutrient-hungry land use - pasture.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
There is also information about some unusual language patterns eg adjectives that sometimes cannot stand alone (eg hungry for news, deaf to our pleas).
From the Cambridge English Corpus
They did not have to travel far to reach their fields and could protect crops from hungry animals and humans.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The mosquitos, at least the vishnui-group, were hungry.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Hungry children often receive food from adults other than their parents.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
The hungriest people will tend to stop right away.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
The colonial picture of an indiscriminately poor and hungry northern savanna was entrenched by the 1930s.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Equally, another might move earlier and risk the chance of going hungry to experience higher quality hosts over a larger area.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
See all examples of hungry
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of hungry, -hungry?
 

Translations of hungry

in Chinese (Traditional)
需要食物的, 饑餓的, 想要的…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
需要食物的, 饥饿的, 想要的…
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in Spanish
hambriento, hambriento/ta [masculine-feminine], ansioso/osa [masculine-feminine]…
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in Portuguese
faminto, faminto/-ta, com fome…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
in Vietnamese
in Polish
in Korean
in Italian
भूकेले, उपाशी, प्रबळ इच्छा…
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飢えた, 飢餓状態の, 空腹（くうふく）の…
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aç, acıkmış…
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qui a faim, affamé/-ée, avide…
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afamat…
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hongerig…
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உணவை விரும்புவது அல்லது தேவைப்படுவது, ஏதாவது ஒரு வலுவான ஆசை அல்லது ஆசை…
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भूखा, क्षुधित, (किसी वस्तु के लिए) लालायित…
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ભૂખ્યું, કોઈ વસ્તુ માટે મજબૂત ઈચ્છા કે ઝંખના ધરાવવી.…
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sulten…
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hungrig…
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lapar…
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hungrig…
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sulten, lengtende, hungrende…
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بھوکا, لگن, خواہش…
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голодний, голодуючий…
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ఆహారం కావాలనుకోవడం లేదా ఆహారపు అవసరంలో ఉండడం, దేనిపట్ల అయినా ఒక బలమైన కోరిక లేదా ఇష్టం కలిగి ఉండటం…
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ক্ষুধার্ত, প্রবল আগ্রহী, উন্মুখ (সাফল্যের জন্য)…
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hladový…
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lapar…
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หิว…
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đói…
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głodny…
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배고픈…
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affamato…
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hunger pang
hunger strike
hunger striker
hungrily
hungry
hungry gap
hungry work
hunk
hunker down phrasal verb

Word of the Day

smooth something over

UK
/smuːð/
US
/smuːð/

to make problems, difficulties, or disagreements less serious or easier to solve, usually by talking to the people involved

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