voracity

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 11, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>voracity</strong> &#149; \vuh-RASS-uh-tee\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><em>Voracity</em> refers to an immoderate eagerness or enthusiasm for something, or to an intense desire to eat or consume something. </p> <p>// Elena reads books with a <em>voracity</em> that requires multiple weekly visits to the library.</p> <p>// After ten straight hours of driving, Marv ate his late dinner with a <em>voracity</em> that would impress a wolverine. </p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voracity">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>“Wildfires also emerged at tough-to-control <em>voracity</em> and speed, ravaging hundreds of thousands of acres across southern Europe and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.” — <em>Forbes</em>, 27 Sept. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The insatiable word nerds among us will appreciate <em>voracity</em>, a word used to refer to both literal and figurative appetites that simply cannot be quelled. <em>Voracity</em> comes to us (via Middle French) from the Latin word <em>voracitas</em>, which itself comes from the combining of <em>vorax</em>, meaning “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voracious">voracious</a>,” with <em>-itas</em>, the Latin equivalent of the English noun suffix <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-ity"><em>-ity</em></a>. <em>Voracity</em> is one of two English words that mean “the quality or state of being voracious.” The other is <em>voraciousness</em>, which was once considered archaic but has made a comeback. Because <em>voracity</em> developed from non-English forerunners, rather than being created in English from <em>voracious</em> (as was <em>voraciousness</em>), the word may strike some English speakers as an unusual formation. It