starvation
part of speech
noun (starvation — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) Serious suffering or death caused by having little or no food for a long time. tree →
2) (informal, exaggerated) Being very hungry: «I'm dying of starvation!» said jokingly before tea. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history and geography lessons, starvation happens in famines, sieges and wars, like the Irish Great Famine (1845–1852) or the Holodomor in Ukraine (1932–1933); in news, aid groups bring food to people facing starvation. In science, the body without food uses its fat and then muscle. In everyday jokes children exaggerate hunger. Phrases: «starvation wages» (very low pay), «die of starvation».
examples
- During the famine, many people died of starvation. tree →
- Aid agencies are working to prevent starvation in the war zone. tree →
- The Holodomor caused the starvation of millions of Ukrainians. tree →
- Animals in the snow can face starvation in a hard winter. tree →
- "Is tea ready? I'm dying of starvation!" tree →
- Using hunger and starvation as a weapon of war is against international law. tree →
- To get down was utterly impossible, it seemed as if he must die of starvation. tree →
note
Uncountable; from «starve» (drop e, add -ation). Hunger is the feeling; starvation is the dangerous state. Jokey use is exaggeration, not literal.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «starvation» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.