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alacrity

noun
/əˈlakrᵻti/UK/əˈlæk.rə.ti/

Etymology

Mid-15th century; from Middle English alacrite, from Latin alacritās, from alacer (“brisk”) + -itās (“-ity”).

  1. derived from alacritās
  2. inherited from alacrite

Definitions

  1. Eagerness

    Eagerness; liveliness; enthusiasm.

    • Besides, a wealthy man, well at ease, may pray to God quietly and merrily with alacrity and great quietness of mind, whereas he who lieth groaning in his grief cannot endure to pray nor can he hardly think upon anything but his pain.
    • I have not that alacrity of spirit / Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have.
    • "I'll get into the clothes this minute, if they're here," said Sam, with great alacrity.

  2. Promptness

    Promptness; speed.

    • Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. […] Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.
    • He had a uniform jacket with one button off, and seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity.
    • Not just that, but if the inlet of a turbopump impeller runs dry, it would overspeed with blinding alacrity.

The neighborhood

Derived

alacritous, alacritously

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for alacrity. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA