Eagernesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A strong desire or enthusiasm for something that one wishes to achieve or obtain
2. A state of being keenly motivated and highly interested in pursuing a goal or aspiration
3. An intense eagerness that drives an individual to actively seek out experiences or outcomes they find appealing

Etymology: "Eagernesses" is simply the plural of "eagerness," which means the state or quality of being eager, and the plural form is used for individual instances of that intense keen longing. The first half of the word, "eager," arrived in English from Old French "aigre," meaning sharp or sour, which itself came from Latin "acer," meaning sharp. So the root idea is of something keen-edged, a sense that survives in the notion of a sharp, pointed appetite for something. The English word "eager" appears in Middle English as "egre" and "eger," and the "-ness" suffix is the ordinary English ending that turns an adjective into a noun for a quality, as in "kindness" or "darkness." Middle English spellings such as "egernesse" and "egrenesse" show the noun taking shape by the late medieval period. The Old English element "-nes" is the ancestor of the modern suffix, so the whole word is a blend of a borrowed adjective and a native English ending.

Synonyms: enthusiasms, keenness, avidities

Antonyms: indifference, apathy