Meanings
plural appetences
- countableuncountableThe state or action of desiring or craving.
They had assumed the wild sweet freedom of jacking off in their inviolable privacy. Their appetence became resilient with repetition.
1974, Davenport, Tatlin!2 more examples
[T]hat fair femal Troop […] / Bred onely and completed to the taſte / Of luſtful appetence, to ſing, to dance, / To dreſs, and troule the Tongue, and roule the Eye.
1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 610 and 614–616The days passed quickly; I could see that the professor was all quivering with suppressed excitement, and I could scarce credit the eager appetence of his glance as we left the old manor house behind us, and began our journey.
1895, Arthur Machen, The Three Impostors
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinappetentia
- Frenchappétence
- Englishappetence
Circa 1600, from French appétence, from Latin appetentia, from appetere (“to seek after”). Doublet of appetite.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French appétence
- appétencethe state or action of desiring or craving
Portuguese apetência
- apetênciathe state or action of desiring or craving
Cite this entry
appetence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/appetence
“appetence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/appetence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “appetence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/appetence.
Source: appetence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.