appetence

American  

[ap-i-tuhns] / ˈæp ɪ təns /

noun

1. intense desire; strong natural craving; appetite.

2. instinctive inclination or natural tendency.

3. material or chemical attraction or affinity.

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appetence British  

/ ˈæpɪtəns /

noun

1. a natural craving or desire

2. a natural or instinctive inclination

3. an attraction or affinity

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Other Word Forms

• appetent adjective

Etymology

Origin of appetence

1600–10; appete (obsolete) to seek for, long for (< Latin appetere, equivalent to ap- ap- ¹ + petere to seek) + -ence; or < French appétence

Example Sentences

Possibilities were beckoning to him, dead things springing up alive, old longings, ambitions, appetences plucking at him.

From Project Gutenberg

Remove ignorance and you will destroy the wrong appetences that rise from ignorance; destroy these appetences and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them.

From Project Gutenberg

"In the mean time, says he, as sensitive appetence, and sensibility, are frequently confounded with natural perception, in this irritation of the fibres," he divides it into three kinds, viz.

From Project Gutenberg

The interest felt in the occurrences of the passing day is one of the most vigorous of all intellectual appetences.

From Project Gutenberg

But know you not that creatures wanting sense By nature have a mutual appetence, And, wanting organs to advance a step, Moved by love's force unto each other lep?

From Project Gutenberg