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starvation

n.
US //stɑɹˈveɪʃən// UK //stɑːvˈeɪʃən// star·va·tion
  1. 1 lack of food (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    suffering or death caused by having nothing to eat for a long time.

    the state of suffering or death caused by a lack of food. Uncountable in its general sense, though countable when referring to specific instances of famine.

    Example

    The charity is working hard to save thousands of people from starvation after the crops failed.

    Example

    The prolonged siege reduced the city's population to the brink of starvation, forcing the local authorities to appeal for international humanitarian intervention.
  2. 2 lack of resources (n.)
    C1 Advanced Formal

    a situation where there is not enough of something important, like money or information.

    a severe shortage or deprivation of necessary resources other than food. Often used figuratively to describe institutional or emotional lack.

    Example

    The school suffered from a starvation of funds, so they couldn't buy new books.

    Example

    The research department complained of a starvation of data, arguing that without more primary sources, the study could not reach a valid conclusion.
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  1. 3 computing (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

    when a computer program cannot finish its work because it is waiting for something it needs.

    a state in which a process is perpetually denied the necessary resources to complete its task, often due to scheduling algorithms prioritising other tasks.

    Example

    The system slowed down because one small task was suffering from starvation.

    Example

    To prevent process starvation, the operating system employs a fair-share scheduling algorithm that ensures every thread eventually receives a slice of CPU time.

    Usage

    Usually refers to CPU time, memory, or network bandwidth in multi-tasking systems.
    • resource exhaustion
Origin

From starve + -ation.

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