as in shortages
a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number
there's a famine of good general practitioners in many rural areas
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Recent Examples of famines
Since the Civil War, relief efforts had taken her to wars, floods, fires, famines, cyclones, and earthquakes.
—
Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Enter Bob Dylan, who gave a shoutout to those who grow the food that ends famines and sparked decades of giving through Live Aid.
—Daniel Wine, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
Despite concerns about feeding a growing global population in the face of a changing climate, along with famines being declared in Sudan and Gaza, the number of calories consumed per person increased by 35% worldwide between 1960 and 2022 and shows no signs of slowing.
—Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Modern-day famines are different than the famines that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when drought was the main driver in Ethiopia and other nations.
—Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Somalia, in 2011, and South Sudan, in 2017, also saw famines in which tens of thousands of people were affected.
—Laura Ungar, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2025
The government there kicked out a parallel United Nations system for detecting famines, called IPC, or the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
—Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR, 13 Aug. 2025
During the worst famines of past years, prices rose tenfold.
—Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2025
Solve world hunger and starvation and famines and genocides.
—Malik Peay, Essence, 5 Aug. 2025
Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Enter Bob Dylan, who gave a shoutout to those who grow the food that ends famines and sparked decades of giving through Live Aid.
—Daniel Wine, CNN Money, 17 Sep. 2025
Despite concerns about feeding a growing global population in the face of a changing climate, along with famines being declared in Sudan and Gaza, the number of calories consumed per person increased by 35% worldwide between 1960 and 2022 and shows no signs of slowing.
—Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Modern-day famines are different than the famines that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, when drought was the main driver in Ethiopia and other nations.
—Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Somalia, in 2011, and South Sudan, in 2017, also saw famines in which tens of thousands of people were affected.
—Laura Ungar, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2025
The government there kicked out a parallel United Nations system for detecting famines, called IPC, or the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
—Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR, 13 Aug. 2025
During the worst famines of past years, prices rose tenfold.
—Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2025
Solve world hunger and starvation and famines and genocides.
—Malik Peay, Essence, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for famines
Noun
-
Food shortages would mean the disappearance of luxuries and the rationing of staples, sapping public morale.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
-
For rural patients, travel is often an obstacle, and workforce shortages make consistent follow-up difficult.—
Scott R. Schell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
So Vegas has to hope that their forward depth is strong enough to balance out where their star power lacks, relative to other contenders.—
The Athletic NHL,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
-
This absence — of God, of love, of plain community spirit — is a metaphor for the whole parish, where everyone is defined by their own lacks and deficiencies, the weaknesses that cause Wicks to despise them and vow to bring down them all.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
6 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Famines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/famines. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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