What is a phrase for an extreme form of Hunger? e.g. They ripped him apart in their throes of (extreme hunger)
I'm writing a scene where 2 characters come across a village ravaged with famine. Where children are malnourished skeletal figures. As one of them makes to give one child a loaf of bread, the other experienced one, forbids it.
His rationale "As soon as we move away, the others (in extreme hunger) won't hesitate to rip apart the child alive to get to that morsel of half-eaten food"
What phrase/word can I use to describe this extreme form of hunger. the best I could come up with is 'ravenous'
It is not a synonym for 'extreme hunger', but I suggest desperation, given by Lexico as
desperation
mass noun
A state of despair, typically one which results in rash or extreme behaviour.Her story is one of poverty and desperation typical of a country that has known nothing but war for the past decade.
So the sentence could be
As soon as we move away, the others (in desperation) won't hesitate to rip apart the child alive to get to that morsel of half-eaten food.
The phrase 'in desperation' could also be 'out of desperation'.
Some suggestions:
- voraciousness, n. (eager to consume great amounts of food)
- esurience, n. (excessive desire to eat)
- endacity/endaciousness, n. (characterized by voracity; devouring)
- starvationk, n. (act or process of starving)
- famished, adj. (suffering from starvation)