hunger strike

noun

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of hunger strike

: refusal (as by a prisoner) to eat enough to sustain life

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hunger striker

noun

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Recent Examples of hunger strike from the Web

When hunger strikes in Fayetteville, North Carolina, let your nose lead you to Third Base Restaurant & Bar.

— Southern Living, "Bill Murray Makes Pit Stop in Fayetteville for Cheerwine and a Special Burger," 9 Apr. 2018
At Adelanto, Avelica wrote on July 5 that detainees had started a hunger strike to lower bond amounts and improve medical care.

— andrea castillo, www.latimes.com, "How one L.A. father’s arrest put an entire neighborhood on edge," 5 Apr. 2018
Students there, as well as at Radcliffe and Boston University, took part in a four-day hunger strike against the war.

— Time, "Behind the Anti-War Protests That Swept America in 1968," 19 Jan. 2018
Activists were so upset over the administration’s lax response to racially charged incidents that one black student went on a hunger strike until the school’s president resigned.

— jack martinez, Newsweek, "How Obama’s Thoughts on Campus Protests Differ From Both Democrats and Republicans," 22 Dec. 2015
Her classmates at Antioch launched a hunger strike to support her, and local students from Hebrew Union College joined in.

— cameron knight, Cincinnati.com, "50 years ago this protester spent 62 days fasting in Cincinnati jail. She's still got game.," 26 Mar. 2018
Some of the protests included a hunger strike by graduate student Jonathan Butler, as well as a refusal to play from a group of black football players on the Missouri football team.

— hannah smothers, Cosmopolitan, "5 Other Teen-Led Protests That Deserve Your Attention," 25 Feb. 2018
At the University of Missouri, the school’s president resigned after a protest in support of one student’s hunger strike against racial mistreatment and a lack of response from the school.

— Newsweek, "December 25 Issue," 25 Dec. 2017
Anyway, the arson was perpetrated by a radical suffragette named Kitty Marion, who was outraged at having been brutally force-fed 242 times (!) while on hunger strike in custody.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "Drill, Baby, Drill—in 2028?," 9 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hunger strike.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.