avidity means greediness; strong appetite.
avidity is pronounced /əˈvɪdɪti/.
Why “avidity” is a great word
Avidity is a keen and consuming hunger for possession or experience, an eagerness that borders on greed. From Middle English avidite, from Old French avidite, from Latin aviditās ("avidity, covetousness"), from avidus ("eager, greedy") + -itās ("-ity, state"). Unlike "enthusiasm," which glows with warm, often innocent interest, or "zeal," which burns with purposeful devotion to a cause, avidity is a more singular and selfish craving. It is the collector's trembling hands as he unwraps a rare stamp, the reader's refusal to look up from the page even as the room grows dark, the feverish grip of a bidder in an auction's final seconds—desire stripped of decorum, unadorned, unashamed, and barely contained, revealing how closely desire borders on need.
Etymology
From Middle English avidite, from Old French avidite (modern French avidité), from Latin aviditās (“avidity, covetousness”), equivalent to avid + -ity.
noun
- Greediness; strong appetite.
- Eagerness; intenseness of desire.e.g.“to eat with avidity”
- The measure of the synergism of the strength of individual interactions between proteins.
Words closest in meaning
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