ferocity

[fuh-ros-i-tee] /fəˈrɒs ɪ ti/

noun

a ferocious quality or state; savage fierceness.

Origin

1600-10; < Latin ferōcitās, equivalent to ferōc-, stem of ferōx ferocious + -itās -ity

Related forms

nonferocity, noun

Examples from the web for ferocity

It was too brief, the majesty and ferocity of the storm, and the subsequent beauty and quiet of the city.
Yet the ferocity of protest suggests that something more radical may be happening.
Yet another example of the blind, unreasoning ferocity of naval courts-martial.
As in the past, after recovering they would resume their attacks with renewed ferocity.
It follows with a ferocity that even murderers seldom feel.
Since then the armed struggle has been resumed, with ferocity.
There's much more for us to marvel about sharks than their power and ferocity.
Word of his reputation for courtroom ferocity had kicked around their halls before.
Given the ferocity of the insurgency, it would be no surprise if the time-table slipped.
Such ferocity doesn't help unsuspecting people who surprise a bear in the forest.

Word Origin and History for ferocity

c.1600, from French férocité, from Latin ferocitatem (nominative ferocitas) "fierceness," from ferocis, oblique case of ferox "wild, bold, courageous, warlike, fierce," literally "wild-looking," a derivative of ferus "wild" (see fierce) + -ox, -ocem (genitive -ocis), a suffix meaning "looking or appearing" (cognate with Greek ops "eye, sight").