Appetite

//ˈæpɪtaɪt// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A desire to eat food or consume drinks. countable, uncountable

    "And I return with an excellent appetite. There can be no question, my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before breakfast."

  2. 2
    a feeling of craving something wordnet
  3. 3
    Any strong desire; an eagerness or longing. countable, uncountable

    "If God had given to eagles an appetite to swim."

  4. 4
    The desire for some personal gratification, either of the body or of the mind. countable, uncountable

    "appetite for reading"

Synonyms

All synonyms
appetencycravingalacrityambitionan universal wolfanimation

Example

More examples

"Thanks to you I've lost my appetite."

Etymology

From Middle English appetit, from Old French apetit (French appétit), from Latin appetitus, from appetere (“to strive after, long for”); ad + petere (“to seek”). See petition, and compare with appetence.

Related phrases

appetite comes with eatingrisk appetitesexual appetitewhet someone's appetite

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.