hungers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of hunger.

   She learned to recognize the different hungers behind her late-night cravings.

   Their competing hungers for power and approval slowly tore the family apart.

   Note

   A plural that works only when desires are counted one by one. The noun can be either a mass noun or a count noun, and the plural belongs to the count use. It fits most naturally with the broad sense of any strong desire: hungers for power, for approval, for recognition. Used this way, the plural presents a person's longings as separate appetites that can pull against one another.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of hunger.

   After years of being overlooked, she hungers for genuine recognition.

   The orphaned child hungers for affection and a stable home.

   Note

   The verb form shares its spelling with the plural noun. In "she hungers for recognition" it is a verb, while in "her hungers are many" it is a noun. As a verb it usually takes no object and is followed by for, in the figurative sense of longing or yearning. The older transitive use, meaning to make someone hungry, is archaic, so "the long winter hungers the village" reads as deliberately old-fashioned.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2