Vastny Languages editorial team
Hungry, starving, famished, and ravenous: what's the difference?
Hungry is the ordinary need to eat. Starving is often an informal exaggeration but can also describe dangerous lack of food. Famished and ravenous mean very hungry, with a more vivid tone.
Hungry is the ordinary need to eat. Starving is often an informal exaggeration but can also describe dangerous lack of food. Famished and ravenous mean very hungry, with a more vivid tone.
Which word fits here?
Use hungry for the ordinary feeling of needing food.
Use starving informally for very hungry, or literally for suffering from a serious lack of food; context matters.
Use famished for very hungry, often as an expressive alternative.
Use ravenous for extreme hunger or appetite, such as feeling ravenous after exercise.
How to choose a word
Use hungry for the ordinary feeling of needing food.
Use starving informally for very hungry, or literally for suffering from a serious lack of food; context matters.
Use famished for very hungry, often as an expressive alternative.
Use ravenous for extreme hunger or appetite, such as feeling ravenous after exercise.
Word by word
hungry
Use hungry for the ordinary feeling of needing food.
I'm hungry. Is dinner ready?
The kids are always hungry after school.
starving
Use starving informally for very hungry, or literally for suffering from a serious lack of food; context matters.
I skipped lunch, and now I'm starving.
Many people were starving during the famine.
famished
Use famished for very hungry, often as an expressive alternative.
After the hike, we were famished.
You must be famished after that long flight.
ravenous
Use ravenous for extreme hunger or appetite, such as feeling ravenous after exercise.
After swimming for two hours, I was ravenous.
The medicine gave him a ravenous appetite.
