ferocity
[fuh-ros-i-tee]
- a ferocious quality or state; savage fierceness.
Show More
Origin of ferocity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ferocity
Contemporary Examples
Phone lines would catch fire from the velocity and ferocity of his words.
He was just seamlessly being this person—the ferocity and intensity was incredible.
They are clashing with Israeli police with a ferocity not seen since the second Intifada.
I ask if the ferocity of his violent outburst surprised him and he says yes, it did.
The group only grew in ferocity with the release of the first film adaptation in 2008.
Historical Examples
All ferocity must be misinterpretation of the divine law of harmony and mutual help.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
They have the ferocity of a chained dog, and are proud of it.
A Treatise on Parents and ChildrenGeorge Bernard Shaw
This incautious speech by no means tended to appease the ferocity of the crowd.
Barnaby RudgeCharles Dickens
The struggle was deadly, but the numbers and ferocity of the pirates prevailed.
The Pirate and The Three CuttersFrederick Marryat
But her eyes remained very keen, sharpened as it were by ferocity.
FruitfulnessEmile Zola
Word Origin and History for ferocity
n.
c.1600, from French férocité, from Latin ferocitatem (nominative ferocitas) "fierceness," from ferocis, oblique case of ferox "wild, bold, courageous, warlike, fierce," literally "wild-looking," a derivative of ferus "wild" (see fierce) + -ox, -ocem (genitive -ocis), a suffix meaning "looking or appearing" (cognate with Greek ops "eye, sight").
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper