hungry

adjective

hun·​gry ˈhəŋ-grē 

hungrier; hungriest

1

a

: feeling an uneasy or painful sensation from lack of food : feeling hunger

b

: characterized by or characteristic of hunger or appetite

a wolf with hungry eyes

2

a

: eager, avid

hungry for affection

b

: strongly motivated (as by ambition)

hungry investors

a power-hungry politician

3

: not rich or fertile : barren

a hungry soil

hungrily

ˈhəŋ-grə-lē 

adverb

hungriness

ˈhəŋ-grē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms of hungry

• starving
• starved

Examples of hungry in a Sentence

There are millions of hungry people throughout the world.

That girl is always hungry.

The prisoners' families were hungry for more information.

They were hungry to learn more.

Recent Examples on the Web

The food and drink menu continues to evolve to satisfy hungry customers. —Usa Today Network, USA Today, 19 June 2026

With fans receiving something unique for the morning, the day games have shown a propensity to draw a hungrier crowd than the late-night games across the tournament, Borst said. —Tim Newcomb, Forbes.com, 19 June 2026

Upgrades like a new custom Siri voice and dictation feature expected to launch this fall will be limited to a small number of newer iPhones, iPads, and Macs because the older and lesser-expensive ones can't handle the memory-hungry options. —Kif Leswing, CNBC, 19 June 2026

The new board has a larger, newer FPGA [field-programmable gate array], has double the DDR3 memory bandwidth, and a power supply that delivers higher currents for the more power-hungry screen. —IEEE Spectrum, 18 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English hungrig; akin to Old English hungor

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing hungry

• go hungry

Kids Definition

hungry

adjective

hun·​gry ˈhəŋ-grē 

hungrier; hungriest

1

: feeling or showing hunger

2

: eager, avid

hungry for all the details

hungrily

-grə-lē 

adverb