What does ravenousness mean?
Ravenousness means extreme hunger or an equally intense, unsatisfied desire. Describing a person’s ravenousness suggests that they need food urgently or that they approach eating with enthusiasm and little restraint. The word can also be figurative: a ravenousness for travel, knowledge, possessions, or attention implies a desire that is difficult to satisfy. Although it can convey physical need, it often adds a vivid note of eagerness, greed, or excess rather than merely describing ordinary hunger. The noun is less common in everyday speech than the adjective “ravenous,” but it is useful when the focus is on a quality or state rather than on the person experiencing it. Its force comes from the same historical idea of voracious consumption associated with ravenousness, making it especially effective in literary and figurative contexts.
nounThe quality of being ravenous, especially an extreme appetite for food or an intense, insatiable desire for something. It can describe physical hunger or figurative greed.
- Extreme or intense hunger.
- An unyielding desire to acquire or consume something; greedy or rapacious appetite.
"After the long journey, their ravenousness turned the first meal into an occasion of unrestrained enthusiasm."
"The children ate with such ravenousness that the entire basket of sandwiches disappeared."
"Her ravenousness for new experiences led her to plan a new journey every month."
The plural is grammatically correct but uncommon; the singular is normally more natural.
"The novel portrays the rival's rivalrous ravenosities with almost comic intensity."
Ravenousness is the hunger that makes one modest slice of bread feel like the opening course.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ravenousness come from?
The word is formed from “ravenous” plus the English suffix “-ness,” which creates an abstract noun from an adjective. “Ravenous” came through medieval English from an Old French form related to Latin “rapinus,” meaning plundering or greedy, and ultimately to Latin “rapere,” meaning to seize. The same Latin root underlies cognates such as “rapacious,” “rapine,” “ravage,” and “rapture.”
How ravenousness is actually used
This is a relatively uncommon and somewhat literary noun. The more familiar adjective “ravenous” is normally used to modify a person, appetite, or desire, while “ravenousness” usually names the quality itself.