Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a desire for food or drink: I have no appetite for lunch today.
- a desire to satisfy any bodily need or craving.
- a desire or liking for something; fondness; taste: an appetite for power; an appetite for pleasure.
noun
- a desire for food or drink
- a desire to satisfy a bodily craving, as for sexual pleasure
- (usually foll by for) a desire, liking, or willingnessa great appetite for work
c.1300, “craving for food,” from Anglo-French appetit, Old French apetit (13c.) “appetite, desire, eagerness,” from Latin appetitus “appetite,” literally “desire toward,” from appetitus, past participle of appetere “to long for, desire; strive for, grasp at,” from ad- “to” (see ad-) + petere “go to, seek out” (see petition (n.)).
Of other desires or cravings, from late 14c. As an adjective form, OED lists appetitious (1650s) and appetitual (1610s) as “obsolete,” but appetitive (1570s) continues.
n.
- An instinctive physical desire, as for food or sex.
see whet one’s appetite