1
as in hungry
feeling a desire or need for food
after a full day of skiing, I was feeling absolutely famished
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in impoverished
lacking money or material possessions
a group of local citizens working to ease the plight of the famished families in their community
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Recent Examples of famished
The restaurant at Tranquility Base was closed, however, so the by-then famished band found a late-night diner down the road.
—
Gary Graff, Billboard, 15 Aug. 2024
None of this perturbed Schwarzenegger, who was a famously quick study, almost lupine in his famished eagerness to learn, trading weight-lifting tips with his distinguished co-star James Earl Jones in return for actorly advice.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
The famished road warriors drove down the cold mountain highway and across the bridge into the town.
—J. D. Biersdorfer, New York Times, 8 July 2024
On the outskirts of Wollongong, waking at dawn from its 20-hour nap, a famished, branch-hugging koala stretched its claw skyward for a fat, juicy green eucalyptus leaf.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for famished
Gary Graff, Billboard, 15 Aug. 2024
None of this perturbed Schwarzenegger, who was a famously quick study, almost lupine in his famished eagerness to learn, trading weight-lifting tips with his distinguished co-star James Earl Jones in return for actorly advice.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
The famished road warriors drove down the cold mountain highway and across the bridge into the town.
—J. D. Biersdorfer, New York Times, 8 July 2024
On the outskirts of Wollongong, waking at dawn from its 20-hour nap, a famished, branch-hugging koala stretched its claw skyward for a fat, juicy green eucalyptus leaf.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for famished
Recent Examples of Synonyms for famished
Adjective
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Going into the weekend, the expectation was that McLaren would dominate, given the high temperatures in Austin and the tire-hungry demands of COTA, previously noteworthy strengths for the team over its competitors.—
Luke Smith,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
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Change Halloween to the Fourth of July and a relentless maniac to a hungry shark, and Steven Spielberg's iconic blockbuster might as well be a seabound slasher.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The United Nations predicts the cost of reconstruction in the impoverished territory is a staggering $70 billion.—
NPR,
NPR,
16 Oct. 2025
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Set within the League of Legends universe, the Netflix series follows sisters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), who find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing war between the impoverished undercity of Zaun and the futuristic, wealthy city of Piltover.—
Abby Monteil,
Them.,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Porter has been a lead creator before, but that was on cellar-dwelling Houston Rockets squads that became a breeding ground for poor habits.—
Fred Katz,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
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Young people want better governance and are fed up with suffering from poor services and economies while their leaders get rich around them and inequality grows.—
Elizabeth Shackelford,
Twin Cities,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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For some irony, given the licensing deal with Netflix, Korvo and Terry announce that the Solar Opposites are broke, with all of their moneymaking machines zapped.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
29 Sep. 2025
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In another magical Miami tale, a broke witch who works in a spellshop and an adjunct professor who’s secretly a popular himbo mage team up to win a spellcasting reality show competition — except someone is sabotaging the contestants’ work.—
Lia Amador,
PEOPLE,
20 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Famished.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/famished. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
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