1
as in hungry
feeling a desire or need for food
after a full day of skiing, I was feeling absolutely famished
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of famished
Last year, the Arizona Department of Game and Fish recorded a spike in human-bear conflicts, evidence that food scarcity was driving famished bears into human territory.
—
Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 20 Feb. 2026
The famished can enjoy acai bowls, smoothies, toasts (avocado or almond butter and jam), sandwiches, pastries and wraps.
—Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 17 Feb. 2026
The fan base is well past famished for a seventh.
—Cedric Golden, Austin American Statesman, 6 Feb. 2026
After over 23 hours of flying, starting in Heathrow, connecting in New York, and making a quick pit stop in Bogotá, I was terribly famished.
—Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for famished
Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 20 Feb. 2026
The famished can enjoy acai bowls, smoothies, toasts (avocado or almond butter and jam), sandwiches, pastries and wraps.
—Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 17 Feb. 2026
The fan base is well past famished for a seventh.
—Cedric Golden, Austin American Statesman, 6 Feb. 2026
After over 23 hours of flying, starting in Heathrow, connecting in New York, and making a quick pit stop in Bogotá, I was terribly famished.
—Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for famished
Recent Examples of Synonyms for famished
Adjective
-
Lone Star took down state power Highland Park 58-38 last week and is hungry — the Rangers are two wins away from their first state championship.—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
11 Dec. 2025
-
And in coral reefs, unrelated fish seem to swap visual and chemical cues as protection against dangers such as hungry barracudas.—
Jesse Greenspan,
Scientific American,
10 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Transposing the book onto a contemporary setting, Jude’s take centers on an impoverished Romanian migrant, Gianina, played by a sensational Ana Dumitrașcu, who finds work as a housekeeper and au pair for a smugly bourgeois-bohemian couple living in Bordeaux.—
Christopher Vourlias,
Variety,
11 June 2026
-
To ease the financial burden on the most impoverished, the government said tax exemptions would apply to micro-enterprises and those earning less than $680 a month.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
11 June 2026
Adjective
-
Images of skeletal, starving Gazans, including children, have harked back to the darkest corners of the twentieth century, stirring Western revulsion – if not yet concrete action – toward the humanitarian crisis.—
Joseph Ataman,
CNN Money,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
If poor flowering persists year after year, consider planting a different variety of tomatoes that better suits your climate.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
16 June 2026
-
The only question now is how much of the public's time and money the Mayor is willing to waste to obscure the numerous poor decisions her administration and the County have made for decades.—
Manuel Bojorquez,
CBS News,
16 June 2026
Adjective
-
Released in September 1975, the album’s sedulous world-building broke ground after an unexpected studio visit from co-founder Syd Barrett, who had departed Pink Floyd several years earlier on account of mental-health concerns.—
Devon Ivie,
Vulture,
9 Dec. 2025
-
That dream finally came true with How To Die Alone, a thoughtful dramedy about Mel (Rothwell), a broke airport employee who's forgotten how to dream.—
EW Staff,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Famished.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/famished. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
