gnawing hunger
Stomach eating itself
Gnawing hunger is persistent, uncomfortable hunger that feels like it's eating at you from the inside.
The image is of something gnawing—chewing steadily—at your stomach.
The phrase emphasizes duration and discomfort rather than mere appetite: A gnawing hunger kept her awake through the night.
- ravenousExtremely hungry, insatiable
- starvingSuffering extreme hunger
- famishedIntensely, painfully hungry
- skin and bonesExtreme thinness, no flesh
- cravingPowerful urge to have
food craving · emptiness · empty stomach · stomach · pangs · hollow · pit in stomach · ache · insatiable · voracious · desperate · rumbling · growling · famine · appetite · yearning · wasting · gaunt