ferocity

American  

[fuh-ros-i-tee] / fəˈrɒs ɪ ti /

noun

• ferocities
  plural

1. 

   a ferocious quality or state; savage fierceness.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonferocity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ferocities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ferocity

1600–10; < Latin ferōcitās, equivalent to ferōc-, stem of ferōx ferocious + -itās -ity

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Explanation

Ferocity is the state of being ferocious — wild, scary, and fierce. A five year-old girl pretending to be a lion will display her ferocity by roaring and baring her teeth. Things known for their ferocity include wild animals, terrifying thunder storms, and fierce battlefield fights. A furious argument can have an element of ferocity, and so can a wild, loud piece of music. The Latin word ferus, which means "wild," is the root of not only ferocity, but ferocious and fierce. Ferocity came directly from the Latin ferocitatem, "fierceness, or wildness."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ferocity ferocities

Ms. Rodriguez’s Galloway lacks the cool ferocity and terrier-like tenacity that drive her character’s righteous insistence on seeing justice done.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Officials in London always knew that such a dramatic shift in policy towards Israel-Palestine was going to elicit a hostile response, but seemed taken aback by the speed and ferocity of Israel's reaction.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Mr. Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee, has often exuded a molten intensity onstage, and he bristles with dark ferocity here.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

And out of nowhere, Seehorn gives me a taste of Carol, growling the words, “Can you just get it?” with such ferocity that I’m almost physically blown back in my chair.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The bowl is heaping and I tackle it with the ferocity that I think a last meal deserves—shoving it all in me as if it owes me loot.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini

Pieces by Ravel and Pablo de Sarasate shone as they should, and the evening’s unlikely centerpiece, Ginastera’s Violin Concerto, was a 30-minute fever dream of serialist fancies and ferocities.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2024

Whitman relished these energies; these ferocities in our beings. 

From Slate ● Jan. 9, 2015

The altar boy who might charm the nuns could take on ferocities.

From Time Magazine Archive

Indeed, in this play of gloomy wedlock and ill-starred infidelities, he preaches a sad sermon with his quips and makes Margaret Lawrence, who usually seems bearable if not entrancing, a monstrous brute of conjugal ferocities.

From Time Magazine Archive

I never had more intentions—what do I say?—more ferocities; I am sitting in my boat and my oars rhythmically creak.

From The Letters of Henry James (volume I) by Henry James

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