Definition 1: An enormous appetite, uncontrollable hunger, ravenousness.

Usage 1: Be sure to make the initial [o] sound in today's word distinct; otherwise, it may well be confused with veracity "truthfulness." People noted for their voracity are quite distinct from those known for their veracity. The adjective from today's noun is "voracious" and the adverb "voraciously."

Suggested usage: Today's word always refers to the appetite, so "a voracious appetite" is redundant: "Manley attacked the roast beef with a voracity expected only of a pack of wolves." However, outside the gastronomic purview, the word loses its negative connotations and assumes a sophistication consonant with its phonetic beauty: "Madeleine has an insatiable voracity for German classical music."

Etymology: From Latin vorax "ravenous" from vorare "to swallow, devour." The same word emerges in French as "voracité," in Italian as "voracità," and in Spanish as "voracidad." Today's word is akin to vorago "chasm, abyss" and its adjective voraginous "gaping, resembling a chasm or abyss," things that can greedily swallow you up.