Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A bad custom or habit; a bad disposition.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A bad custom or habit; an insatiable desire.
- noun (Med.) A bad quality or disposition in a disease; an incurable ulcer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
compulsion ;mania - noun medicine, obsolete A bad quality or
disposition in adisease ; anincurable ulcer .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Among the rest she was seized with what we men call a cacoethes of the needle: "a raging desire" for work.
White Lies Charles Reade 1849
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'Tis most true, tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes, and [72] there is no end of writing of books, as the wiseman found of old, in this [73] scribbling age, especially wherein [74] the number of books is without number, (as a worthy man saith,) presses be oppressed, and out of an itching humour that every man hath to show himself, [75] desirous of fame and honour
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Trimalchionian episode, and the subsequent pamphleteering would by no means eradicate this "cacoethes emendandi."
Satyricon 2007
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We must talk, think, and live up to the spirit of the times, and write up to it too, if that cacoethes be upon us, or else we are nought.
Barchester Towers 2004
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Boredom, a cluttered mind, and a terminal case of cacoethes scribendi.
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Juvenal wrote that an incurable itch for scribbling cacoethes scribendi takes possession of many, and grows inveterate in their insane breast.
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The recovery of the Trimalchionian episode, and the subsequent pamphleteering would by no means eradicate this "cacoethes emendandi."
The Satyricon — Complete 20-66 Petronius Arbiter
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The recovery of the Trimalchionian episode, and the subsequent pamphleteering would by no means eradicate this "cacoethes emendandi."
The Satyricon — Volume 01: Introduction 20-66 Petronius Arbiter
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I do not believe that there are any cases of the _cacoethes subscribendi_.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 101, March, 1866 Various
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In the month of June, 1840, Lieutenant Sturt was ordered to survey the passes of the Hindoo Koosh, and I obtained leave from my regiment, then in camp at Cabul, for the purpose of accompanying him; my object was simply to seek pleasant adventures; the "_cacoethes ambulandi_" was strong upon me, and I thirsted to visit the capital of ancient
A Peep into Toorkisthhan Rollo Gillespie Burslem
rawles commented on the word cacoethes
More elegant than addiction. Less suggestive than desire.
January 6, 2007
jaime_d commented on the word cacoethes
from Trollope
October 1, 2007
mcritz commented on the word cacoethes
Pronounced something like "kako-ethese". Awesome word, difficult pronunciation.
November 3, 2008
wordlover42 commented on the word cacoethes
Love this word.It was on the Round One Test for the National Spelling Bee last year.
June 20, 2009
jmjarmstrong commented on the word cacoethes
JM evidently has a cacoethes for obscure words
October 24, 2009
grant_barrett commented on the word cacoethes
This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.
November 11, 2009
chelster commented on the word cacoethes
This word is more elegantly, and helpfully, printed with a dieresis (dy-ER-uh-sis: two dots, like an umlaut) over the first /e/ to show that it is pronounced separately from the preceding /o/. — The Orthoepist
July 2, 2010
qms commented on the word cacoethes
Luther while writing his theses
Strained at producing his feces.
He scribbled the lot
While perched on the pot
In service to both cacoethes.
March 7, 2014