a·vid·i·ty

(ə-vĭd′ĭ-tē)

n. pl. a·vid·i·ties

1. Keen interest or enthusiasm: an avidity for sightseeing.

2. Strong desire or craving: an insatiable avidity for power.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

avidity

(əˈvɪdɪtɪ)

1. the quality or state of being avid

a. eagerness

b. greed; avarice

3. (Chemistry) chem

a. the strength of an acid or base in proportion to its degree of dissociation

b. another term for affinity^6b

4. (Biochemistry) immunol a measure of antigen-to-antibody binding, based on the rate of formation of the complex

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

avidity - a positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something

avidness, eagerness, keenness

enthusiasm - a feeling of excitement

ardor, ardour, elan, zeal - a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause); "they were imbued with a revolutionary ardor"; "he felt a kind of religious zeal"

avidity

noun

1. The quality or condition of being voracious:

edacity, omnivorousness, rapaciousness, rapacity, ravenousness, voracity.

2. Excessive desire for more than one needs or deserves:

acquisitiveness, avarice, avariciousness, covetousness, cupidity, graspingness, greed.

Informal: grabbiness.

Translations

تَوق شَديد، شَره إلى

dychtivost

begærlighedivrighed

græîgi, ákafi

avidity

[əˈvɪdɪtɪ] N → avidez f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

avidity

n no pl (liter)

(= desire, eagerness) → Begierde f → (for nach); (pej) → Gier f → (for nach); with avidity → begierig, gierig

(= keenness) → Begeisterung f; (of supporter) → Eifer m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

avidity

[əˈvɪdɪtɪ] n → avidità

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

avid

(ˈӕvid) adjective

eager. avid for information; an avid reader.

ˈavidly adverb

aˈvidity noun

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

So one night the Successful Man of Business left his hand out of his neighbour's pocket, and the Thief took it with avidity.

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Immense profits were thus made by the early traders, and the traffic was pursued with avidity.

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You must know, then, that the above-named gentleman whenever he was at leisure (which was mostly all the year round) gave himself up to reading books of chivalry with such ardour and avidity that he almost entirely neglected the pursuit of his field-sports, and even the management of his property; and to such a pitch did his eagerness and infatuation go that he sold many an acre of tillageland to buy books of chivalry to read, and brought home as many of them as he could get.

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After having passed by the cage of the staircase that led to the platform, I saw a cabin six feet long, in which Conseil and Ned Land, enchanted with their repast, were devouring it with avidity. Then a door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between the large store-rooms.

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And the worst of it was that there was no ransom that we could pay to satisfy his avidity; for whatever evil is wrought by the raiding East Wind, it is done only to spite his kingly brother of the West.

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"But one thing that has been, unfortunately, proven true, is, the ferocity of these tribes, who are really very fond of human flesh, and devour it with avidity."

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It seizes with avidity upon any incidents, surprising or mysterious, in the career of those who have at all distinguished themselves from their fellows, and invents a legend to which it then attaches a fanatical belief.

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Hunger for the moment overcame the little Prince's fears, and he set to with avidity upon the strange, rough fare, made doubly coarse by the rude utensils and the bare surroundings, so unlike the royal magnificence of his palace apartments.

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On the bridge of the steamer, in the midst of the crowd, he bustled to and fro, never still for a moment, "dragging his anchors," as the sailors say, gesticulating, making free with everybody, biting his nails with nervous avidity. He was one of those originals which nature sometimes invents in the freak of a moment, and of which she then breaks the mould.

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Wanton avidity, bilious envy, careworn revenge, populace-pride: all these struck mine eye.

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Occasionally other trials than those of the Old Bailey would be included in the package of books we received from London; among these my husband found and read with avidity:--

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Their refusal would be too plausible a pretext to the complaining States to withhold their contributions, not to be embraced with avidity; and the non-compliance of these States with their engagements would be a ground of bitter discussion and altercation.

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