appetence

[ ap-i-tuhns ]

See synonyms for: appetence appetent on Thesaurus.com

noun

intense desire; strong natural craving; appetite.
instinctive inclination or natural tendency.

material or chemical attraction or affinity.

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

Also appetency.

Other words from appetence

ap·pe·tent, adjective

Words Nearby appetence

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use appetence in a sentence

Ergo, the terrestrial or the Life of Nature ever the shadow and opposite of the Divine is appropriative, absorbing appetence.
Anima Poet | Samuel Taylor Coleridge
For perception in any subject is vain, unless it can desire, and appetence is useless, unless it can move.
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for appetence

appetence

appetency

/ (ˈæpɪtəns) /

nounplural -tences or -tencies

a natural craving or desire
a natural or instinctive inclination

an attraction or affinity

Origin of appetence

C17: from Latin appetentia, from appetere to crave

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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