ferocity

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French férocité, from Latin ferocitas, from ferox (“fierce”), from ferus (“wild, savage, fierce”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹɑsɪti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹɒsɪti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒsɪti

Noun

ferocity (countable and uncountable, plural ferocities)

1. The condition of being ferocious.

   Synonym: ferociousness

   Hypernym: superferocity

   Coordinate terms: ferality, feralness, wildness, brutishness

   Near-synonyms: fierceness, furiousness, fury, vehemence, violence

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 4, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

     Nearly a year later, in the month of October, 18—, London was startled by a crime of singular ferocity and rendered all the more notable by the high position of the victim.

Derived terms

• superferocity

Related terms

• feral
• ferity
• fierce

Translations

The condition of being ferocious

Bulgarian: свирепост (bg) f (svirepost) Esperanto: sovaĝeco (eo) Finnish: raivokkuus (fi) French: acharnement (fr) m German: Grausamkeit (de) f Greek: αγριότητα (el) f (agriótita) Latin: ferōcitās f, saevitia f Macedonian: сви́репост f (svírepost), же́стокост f (žéstokost) Maori: taratutū Romanian: ferocitate (ro) f Russian: свирепость (ru) f (svirepostʹ)

Further reading

• “ferocity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “ferocity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “ferocity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.