Antonyms for starve
| Grammar : Verb |
| Spell : stahrv |
| Phonetic Transcription : stɑrv |
Definition of starve
Origin :- Old English steorfan "to die" (past tense stearf, past participle storfen), from Proto-Germanic *sterban "be stiff" (cf. Old Frisian sterva, Dutch sterven, Old High German sterban "to die," Old Norse stjarfi "tetanus"), from PIE root *ster- "stiff, rigid" (cf. Greek sterphnios "stiff, rigid," sterphos "hide, skin," Old Church Slavonic strublu "strong, hard;" see stare).
- The conjugation became weak in English by 16c. The sense narrowed to "die of cold" (14c.); meaning "to kill with hunger" is first recorded 1520s (earlier to starve of hunger, early 12c.). Intransitive sense of "to die of hunger" dates from 1570s. German cognate sterben retains the original sense of the word, but the English has come so far from its origins that starve to death (1910) is now common.
- As in abstain : verb hold back from doing
- As in want : verb lack, need
- As in diet : verb abstain from food
- As in fast : verb go without food
- We would do anything in our power for Sergeant Wilde and for the cause, but we cannot starve!'
- Extract from : « The Grand Old Man » by Richard B. Cook
- Old, a lot of them, and gettin' well to go out and starve, and—My God!
- Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart
- You may hang a man if you like, but you have no right to starve him.
- Extract from : « In the Midst of Alarms » by Robert Barr
- Content to starve, content to freeze, if only he need not be carried into captivity.
- Extract from : « The Village Watch-Tower » by (AKA Kate Douglas Riggs) Kate Douglas Wiggin
- Leaving me here hungry and thirsty and tired, to starve, for anything they care!
- Extract from : « Little Dorrit » by Charles Dickens
- Mr. Vernon's heart, hungry for the first time, had to starve.
- Extract from : « The Incomplete Amorist » by E. Nesbit
- We starve, and deserve to starve, if we do not work to get them.
- Extract from : « A Dish Of Orts » by George MacDonald
- And as for money, that is so you will not starve while you read my books and listen to me talk.
- Extract from : « City of Endless Night » by Milo Hastings
- Then do you want to go back and stay on the dock and starve?
- Extract from : « The Cruise of the Dry Dock » by T. S. Stribling
- They saw their own countrymen who had been fighting for them, starving, and they let them starve!
- Extract from : « Changing Winds » by St. John G. Ervine
Synonyms for starve
- abjure
- abnegate
- abstain
- avoid
- be deficient
- be deprived of
- be found wanting
- be insufficient
- be poor
- be short of
- be without
- call for
- cease
- constrain
- count calories
- curb
- decline
- demand
- deny oneself
- diet
- do without
- eat sparingly
- eschew
- evade
- fall off
- fall short in
- famish
- fast
- fence-sit
- forbear
- forgo
- give the go by
- give up
- go hungry
- go on the wagon
- go without
- have need of
- keep from
- lose weight
- miss
- not eat
- pass
- pass up
- quit
- reduce
- refrain
- refuse
- renounce
- require
- shun
- sit on one's hands
- sit on the fence
- sit out
- skinny down
- slim
- slim down
- spurn
- stand in need of
- starve
- stop
- take the cure
- take the pledge
- tighten belt
- watch weight
- withhold
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019