Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun famine

2 senses of famine

Sense 1
dearth, famine, shortage -- (an acute insufficiency)
       => lack, deficiency, want -- (the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost")

Sense 2
famine -- (a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death)
       => calamity, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy, cataclysm -- (an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a disaster")