famished
Needing food desperately
Famished means extremely hungry, to the point of feeling weak or desperate for food.
It's stronger than merely hungry—closer to starving, though often used hyperbolically: I skipped lunch and I'm absolutely famished.
The word carries a dramatic, almost theatrical quality that makes it common in casual exaggeration.
Extremely hungry, insatiable
- starvingSuffering extreme hunger
- starvedSuffering extreme hunger
- voraciousExtremely eager to consume
- emptyHolding nothing inside
peckish · gnawing · growling · rumbling · pangs · appetite · craving · insatiable
Lacking proper nutrition
- underfedLacking adequate food
- emaciatedAbnormally wasted from hunger
- gauntLean from deprivation
- scarcityInsufficiency of something needed
meager · lean · skeletal · wasted · withered · deprived · insufficient · wanting
ravenous
Extremely hungry, insatiable
empty · peckish · gnawing · growling · rumbling · pangs · appetite · craving · insatiable · gluttonous
malnourished
Lacking proper nutrition
scarcity · meager · lean · skeletal · wasted · withered · deprived · insufficient · wanting · lacking
yearning
Intense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- thirstingYearning intensely for
- hungeringIntensely desiring something
aching · pining · eager · avid · keen · desirous · greedy · covetous · lustful · passionate
desperate
Driven by urgent need
obsessed · consumed · driven · compelled · fixated · single-minded · impatient · restless · agitated · feverish
- Hunger & Appetitehunger, fullness, satiety, craving, appetite loss
- hunger & thirstappetite, thirst, starvation, dehydration, cravings
- appetitehungry, hunger, starving, ravenous, cravings
- hungerhunger, hungry, starving, starvation, ravenous
- gluttonyglutton, gluttonous, gorge, gorger, gorging
- eating and drinkingeat, drink, chew, bite, swallow