Make Your Point > Archived Issues > RABIDITY

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pronounce RABIDITY: Say it "ruh BID uh dee." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: If someone's eagerness or excitement is over-the-top, you might call it rabid. Or f___ent: so intense or enthusiastic that it's like a glowing heat. Or z___ous: so intense or enthusiastic that it's extreme or crazy. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   definition: In Latin, rabere means "to be mad, to rage, to be furious;" and rabies means "rage, fury, or madness."  We took that word rabies straight into English. I'm not a medical professional, so don't quote me on this, but rabies is that potentially fatal viral disease that gets transmitted to people through animals bites, making people act very angry and aggressive. People or animals that are literally rabid (infected with rabies) might look especially frightening as they foam at the mouth, meaning they produce a lot of spit without swallowing it. And people or things that are figuratively rabid seem extreme, crazy, or violent. So, rabidity is anger, violence, or enthusiasm that seems crazy or intense in a diseased way. The words "rabid" and "rabidity" don't actually come from the word for the disease, "rabies"--rather, they come from that Latin verb rabere, which as I mentioned means "to rage." But we closely associate even figurative rabidity with rabies, so it's good to keep that connection in mind. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun, the uncountable kind: "We're put off by his rabidity;" "They should tone down their rabidity." Other forms:  There's an alternate noun, "rabidness," which sounds a bit more matter-of-fact than the more elegant "rabidity." The other forms are "rabies," "rabid," and "rabidly." how to use it: The word "rabid" is fairly common, but its elegant noun form, "rabidity," is rare. Both are extremely harsh, suggesting that someone's raw enthusiasm is both animalistic and diseased. The words call to mind the image of a wild, crazed, violent dog--one who's galloping toward you to attack you and infect you. It's a vicious metaphor, just a small step below vampirism or zombification.  So if that's the kind of image you're going for, talk about rabid people and the rabidity of their speech, writing, behavior, attitudes, efforts, campaigns, and so on. examples: "Within man there is the rabidity and anger of the beast, and the greed and voluptuousness of the pig."    — Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali, The Revival of the Religious Sciences, as translated in 2011 by Muhammad Madhi Al-Sharif "This National banker made a campaign of extreme rabidity... When he wanted to be Comptroller of the Currency under Cleveland he declared in an interview that Cleveland was 'the greatest man since Jesus Christ.'"     — William Cowper Brann, The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 10, 1919 has this page helped you understand "rabidity"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "rabidity" without saying "intense fury" or "vehemence." try it out: Check out this scene from Alyson Foster's novel Heart Attack Watch:    "Just because rabidity happens to be his natural state doesn't mean he should assume everyone else--"    "Rabidity." Danae shoves her hands in her pockets and tilts her head. "Is that even really a word?" She sees Julia opening her mouth and hastily continues. "I know it's a word word. But something people actually say? It isn't." Danae has a good point: "rabidity" isn't the kind of word you bump into on the daily. "Rabid," sure, but not its elegant noun form. And despite the elegance, it's a ferocious metaphor, so it's inherently weird. Keeping in mind the word's odd blend of elegance and ferocity, let's fill in these blanks: "(Someone) attacked (some object, person, or idea) with more than hysteria, with rabidity."  Example: "With a baseball bat, in an empty field, Peter and his friends attack the printer with more than hysteria, with rabidity." If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Serious Words, Silliest Names." Match each word to the silly name it evokes. For example, match "pecuniary" to Owen Cash, "hoodwink" to Howie Cheatham, and "debacle" to Oliver Sutton. To see the answers, scroll all the way down. Enjoy! Try these today: ANCHORITE: _____ MEANDER: _____ MELLIFLUOUS: _____ VERDANT: _____ WIRE-PULLER: _____      April Schauer      Carrie Oakey      Corey O. Graff      Ty Malone      Wanda Rinn review this word: 1. The opposite of RABIDITY is A. APATHY. B. STRENGTH. C. SLOWNESS. 2. I _____ my goals, if not with grace or consistency, with rabidity, a kind of _____ enthusiasm. A. chase .. frothing B. pursue .. high-flying C. define .. fussy and nuanced Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. A Answers to the game questions: ANCHORITE: Ty Malone (time alone) MEANDER: Wanda Rinn (wandering) MELLIFLUOUS: Carrie Oakey (karaoke) (or maybe CACOPHONOUS is more appropriate?) VERDANT: April Schauer (April shower) WIRE-PULLER: Corey O. Graff (choreograph) a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.