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ALACRITY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Liveliness and eagerness
Example:
the smartness of the pace soon exhausted him
Synonyms:
alacrity; briskness; smartness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("alacrity" is a kind of...):
life; liveliness; spirit; sprightliness (animation and energy in action or expression)
Derivation:
alacritous (quick and eager)
Context examples:
Emma was rather in dismay when only half a minute afterwards he began to speak of other things, and in a voice of the greatest alacrity and enjoyment.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
This one swung himself off the box-seat with the alacrity of a man who has no doubts about the upshot of the quarrel, and after hanging his caped coat upon the swingle-bar, he daintily turned up the ruffled cuffs of his white cambric shirt.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
At last, I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I may incur some censure, and not unjustly; for I confess I owe the preserving of mine eyes, and consequently my liberty, to my own great rashness and want of experience; because, if I had then known the nature of princes and ministers, which I have since observed in many other courts, and their methods of treating criminals less obnoxious than myself, I should, with great alacrity and readiness, have submitted to so easy a punishment.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I see genuine contentment in your gait and mien, your eye and face, when you are helping me and pleasing me—working for me, and with me, in, as you characteristically say, 'all that is right:' for if I bid you do what you thought wrong, there would be no light-footed running, no neat-handed alacrity, no lively glance and animated complexion.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
“Yes, sir,” he answered, with cheerful alacrity.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
"Give me the Herr's luggage," said the driver; and with exceeding alacrity my bags were handed out and put in the calèche.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“Not at all!” cried Miss Crawford with alacrity.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Yes, he had no engagement at all for to-morrow; and her invitation was accepted with alacrity.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Mr. Knightley returned to his reading with greater alacrity.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I rose with all alacrity, to acquit myself of this commission.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
