What does hungering mean?
“Hungering” means experiencing an urgent need for food or, figuratively, having a powerful and persistent desire for something. The basic physical sense describes the painful condition of lacking adequate nourishment, though the word is more literary than the common expression “to be hungry.” In extended use, it often carries emotional intensity: a person may be said to hunger for freedom, success, knowledge, or another person, with the verb suggesting a desire that is deep, persistent, and compelling. The form can also appear before a noun, as in “hungering eyes,” where it describes an eager or passionately expressive look. Although “hungering” is precise and evocative, ordinary usage generally favors the simpler verb “hunger” and the adjective “hungry.” Its elevated tone nevertheless makes it effective in literary, historical, and rhetorical contexts.
To experience an urgent or painful need for food, especially when deprived of it.
"The soldiers were exhausted and constantly hungering for food."
More literary than “to be hungry”; often used in situations involving deprivation.
To have a strong, persistent desire for something.
"She was hungering for a life beyond the city."
Figurative use is often somewhat formal or elevated in tone.
Having an intense desire or need, especially for food; eagerly desirous.
"He followed the map with hungering eyes."
Chiefly literary and especially common in the attributive phrase “hungering eyes.”
Hungering reaches back to Old English times, when hunger was already recognized as one of humanity’s most powerful drives.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does hungering come from?
The word comes through Middle English from the Old English verb “hungrian,” meaning to be hungry or suffer from hunger. That verb was related to Old English “hungor,” the noun meaning hunger, and both continue Proto-Germanic forms connected with hunger and the condition of being hungry. Modern English formed “hungering” by adding the present-participle ending to “hunger,” while the related adjective “hungry” developed through a different but historically connected Old English formation.
Related word forms
How hungering is actually used
The verb form is more literary or emphatic than the neutral, everyday “to hunger for.” Its attributive use, especially in phrases such as “hungering eyes,” has a poetic or dramatic tone.
Easily confused with hungering
“Hungry” is normally an adjective, whereas “hungering” is chiefly a verb, though it can also be used attributively in literary expressions such as “hungering eyes.”